New scheme to improve bus travel gets underway

Norfolk County Council will be carrying out work in Norwich this summer to improve reliability for bus services through Thorpe St Andrew using Yarmouth Road.

This will be achieved by removing 'pinch points' and extending the turning lanes on approach to the mini roundabout at the Yarmouth Road junction with Pound Lane to reduce congestion in the area.

Councillor Graham Plant, Norfolk County Council's cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport said:

"Up to sixteen buses per hour currently use this route which have already seen significant journey time savings on travel into the city centre from the changes carried out on Thorpe Road. This project will further strengthen the efficiency of this key corridor, improving journey times and reliability for passengers as well as reducing congestion for general traffic.

"The changes form part of our wider strategy under our Bus Service Improvement Plan, with a number of new and extended routes, fare caps and major infrastructure improvements; such as the those recently completed at Market Gates in Great Yarmouth. As well as the introduction of one of the largest electric bus fleets outside of London, which all supports the council's wider net zero ambitions.

"Every effort has been made to minimise disruption whilst works are carried out by keeping Yarmouth Road open for inbound traffic for the bulk of the project and scheduling the most disruptive work to take place during the school summer holidays.

"We appreciate there will be some inconvenience whilst the scheme is constructed and thank the public for their patience during this period."

Works will begin on 2 June and take until 22 August 2025 to complete.

All scheduled closures will be lifted early where possible and the latest project information will be available online at www.norfolk.gov.uk/yarmouthroad. This includes details of all traffic management during construction, which includes a full closure of the Yarmouth Road/Pound Lane junction for up to 4 weeks from 21 July.

This project will cost £419,000 to deliver using funding awarded by the Department for Transport to invest in infrastructure at strategic locations across Norfolk, relieving specific areas of congestion that affect buses so we can deliver better, more punctual services.

The Department for Transport (DfT) awarded the county council nearly £50m of funding for its Bus Service Improvement Plan. You can read more about our work on the project by visiting www.norfolk.gov.uk/busstrategy.

Bus passenger numbers across the county have increased by 9.7% over the last year (around 2.5m additional journeys) and through our Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) we hope to see even more people using public transport in the future.