Motorists have been urged to brace themselves for a 'massive disruption' later this month when a road in and out of Norwich is closed for resurfacing.

A section of Yarmouth Road, Thorpe St Andrew, will be closed off to traffic for up to three weeks from July 25 to allow the �350,000 improvements to take place.

The work will be carried out in three phases, with the section from the east of the roundabout through the railway bridge for about 130m tackled first.

The other two phases include improvements to areas west of the mini-roundabout and up to the junction with Primrose Crescent and the ring road north of the roundabout, including the junction with the Sainsbury's store, south of Dussindale Drive.

Norfolk County Council has informed Thorpe St Andrew Town Council of the planned works and has also sent letters to businesses and people in the area and have spoken directly to Sainsbury's, Premier Inn, City Boats and the Griffin pub.

A county council spokesman said: 'We are hoping to complete in two and a half weeks. The road surface is badly crazed and cracked. The work is part of our planned resurfacing programme.'

Steve Ford, clerk of Thorpe St Andrew Town Council, said he feared there could be 'massive disruption' as a result of the road closure.

He said: 'I would anticipate some pretty lengthy traffic queues. We're putting the notice of the road closure on our notice boards around the parish and are trying to inform people so they are aware and can make plans to avoid Yarmouth Road for those 10 days or so.

'I think people will need to plan their routes very carefully. Some alternative routes such as Green Lane and Green Lane North are already heavily congested.'

Diversions will be put in place while the works are carried out on Yarmouth Road, but it is feared they will be compounded by restrictions on the nearby A47 as part of an essential �50million programme of improvements being carried out by National Grid.

The four-week programme of work to refurbish a major overhead power line crossing Norfolk on the A47 between the junctions with the A140 and A11, will see lane closures during the improvements.

The work will also see a contraflow in operation on the eastbound carrageway of the A47 Southern Bypass, between A11 and A140 between July 11 and August 5 with both eastbound and westbound traffic travelling on the eastbound carriageway while the westbound lane is closed to allow engineers to replace wires on the overhead power line.

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