Hopes for much needed by pass
SIXTY years of waiting for a much-needed bypass on the A140 could finally be coming to an end for one traffic-choked village.A decision will be made on Monday as to whether the scheme for Long Stratton should go to full public consultation in October.
SIXTY years of waiting for a much-needed bypass on the A140 could finally be coming to an end for one traffic-choked town.
A decision will be made on Monday as to whether the scheme for Long Stratton should go to full public consultation in October.
Five route options have been put forward for the bypass, which should remove more than 20,000 vehicles a day from the village.
The scheme has been ranked a top priority since Norfolk County Council took over responsibility for the road last year.
The Evening Star and our Norwich-based sister paper the Evening News began our A140 campaign earlier this year to improve safety on the road dubbed one of the most dangerous in East Anglia.
Norwich MPs Charles Clarke and Ian Gibson, South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon and Central Suffolk MP Sir Michael Lord have also been pushing hard for improvements.
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Peter Smith, district councillor for Long Stratton and action group member, said: "People shouldn't worry too much about whether it is a single carriageway or dual as either road will take the traffic out of Long Stratton.
"It has been in the pipeline for more than 60 years. The first mention was in February 1937, when a newspaper article said that the building of some houses in Swan Lane may have jeopardised government plans to put a bypass around the village."
If the go-ahead is given by Norfolk County Council's cabinet on Monday, the scheme will go out to public consultation next month.
The Cabinet will announce its preferred route in January and the planning application will be submitted in autumn next year.
The Norfolk stretch of the A140 has seen seven fatal accidents in the past five years, while the Suffolk stretch has claimed 80 lives in the past 20 years.
