History A47 road

sentinel tim tolkien near wartime spitfire factory @ castle bromwich

the original (1923) route of a47 birmingham great yarmouth, there changes made route in years. @ eastern end, a47 ran through filby , caister, acle straight bearing number b1140. a47 rerouted along acle straight in 1935, old route being renumbered a1064 (acle caister) , part of a149 (caister great yarmouth).

the second change dates 1935. a47 ran via downham market, not king s lynn. in 1935, rerouted via king s lynn, replacing part of a141 (wisbech king s lynn) , part of a17 (king s lynn swaffham). old route via downham market renumbered a1122 (outwell swaffham) , part of a1101 (wisbech outwell).

the third change took place time before 1932. original route of a47 between guyhirn , wisbech via wisbech st mary, direct route being part of a141. because there no road bridge on river nene @ guyhirn, , hence no junction between a47 , a141. time between 1923 , 1932 bridge built, , a47 , a141 swapped routes between guyhirn , wisbech.

major improvements made late 1970s until in 1990s. 7 mile (11.3 km) £5 million part-dual-carriageway east dereham bypass built on part of disused railway line opened in spring 1978 followed five-mile (8 km) part-dual-carriageway swaffham bypass, costing £5 million opened in june 1981. bypasses uppingham (£1.4 million) , blofield (£4 million) opened in 1982 , 1983 respectively. southern section of great yarmouth western bypass opened in may 1985 , northern section in march 1986 @ cost of £19 million followed improvements 1 mile (1.6 km) postwick-blofield section (£1.2 million) opened in november 1987. in 1989 acle bypass completed cost of £7.1 million , £1.2 million east norton bypass opened in december 1990. 3 mile (4.8 km) £9 million east dereham-north tuddenham improvement opened in august 1992 , £62 million norwich southern bypass in september 1992.

escalating road protests starting twyford down in 1992 , culminating newbury bypass in 1996 (at on 1,000 people arrested) led on 300 road schemes being cancelled in november 1995 , cancellation of further schemes including thorney bypass new labour government in 1997.

in 2002 government announced new road building programme included 3 mile (4.8 km) dual-carriageway thorney bypass opened on 14 december 2005.

in february 2017 highways agency redesignated stretch of a12 road between great yarmouth , lowestoft a47.