£1.5 billion pledged to improve road bottlenecks in the East

  • Anglia
Major road improvements have been announced for the East of England Credit: ITV News Anglia

A huge pre-election pledge to spend £1.5 billion on improving roads in the Anglia region is set to be announced in this week's Autumn Statement. The government says it will create 1,000 jobs.

It will see the A12 in Essex widened to three lanes, new dual carriageways on the A47 in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire and major improvement work on the A1 Black Cat roundabout on the Cambridgeshire-Bedfordshire which is a major bottleneck.

Two schemes on the A47 near Norwich will see a complete dual carriageway from Dereham to Acle. The A47 is the main East-West link from Great Yarmouth to the Midlands and further work is promised dualling the link from the A1 to Peterborough and a new junction at Guyhirn.

But there will be disappointment that dualling has not been announced for a notorious accident blackspot - the Acle Straight.

Instead the Department for Transport has announced "safety improvement at key hotspots" on the Acle Straight while promising to investigate the environmental impacts of further improvements.

The A12 near Colchester is be be widened to three lanes. Credit: Andrew Parsons/PA Archive/Press Association Images

Key projects in the East

  • Replacing the A1 Black Cat roundabout with a new grade separated junction

  • Dualling the last section to the A428 between Caxton Gibbet in Cambridgeshire to the Black Cat roundabout

  • Widening the A12 to three lanes between the M25 and Colchester in Essex

  • Dualling the A47 between Dereham and Acle in Norfolk with new sections between North Tuddenham and Easton and from Blofield to North Burlingham

  • A new junction for the A47 at Guyhirn in Cambridgeshire

  • Dualling the A47 from the A1 to Peterborough

  • A feasibility study for turning the A1 into a motorway from London to Peterborough

Read more: The full list of road schemes in the Anglia region

The Black Cat roundabout on the A1 is a major bottleneck. Credit: ITV News Anglia

The road projects in the East of England are part of a £15 billion pound national roads programme announced by the government. It says it is investing in more than 100 road schemes including 84 new projects.

The government has already pledged to upgrade the A14 in Cambridgeshire. Credit: ITV News Anglia

This transport spending was first announced by the Prime Minister on 10 November although new details of specific projects has now been added.

Like the announcement by the Chancellor George Osborne on Sunday to pump £2 billion into the NHS, the plans will be seen in the context of a General Election now just over five months away.

Labour says the government record has been of cutting road investment. Credit: Chris Radburn/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Shadow transport secretary Michael Dugher said: "This is just yet another re-announcement on promised road improvements. The Government has 'announced' plans for road investment at least three times since 2013. And no additional money has been announced."

There will be improvements to the Thickthorn interchange on the A11 and A47 near Norwich Credit: ITV News Anglia

The Lib Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said past governments had improved roads in the South East of England and he wanted to do it for the rest of the country.