Upcoming roadworks in Easton

As the A47 Easton-North Tuddenham dualling project progresses, we have recieved plans for a partial closure of the Easton Roundabout, starting from the 1st July and happening within two phases. Leading up to this, there will additionally be two evening closures after 20:00 on the 30th June and 1st July.

For any queries not answered by the below information, please email [email protected] and we will be happy to assist you further. 

Evening closures - after 20:00 on 30th June & 1st July

Service 4:

The 18:35 from Norwich Bus Station will operate via the Dunham Road & Bawburgh Road loop, as detailed below to continue serving Easton, as Dereham Road at the join onto the Easton Roundabout is believed to be closed from 19:00 on these evenings.

As the 20:00 & 22:00 from Norwich Bus Station are now operated exclusively by our smaller, 16 seat minibuses - we are able to continue serving Easton on these two journeys, and on these two journeys will accept any valid FirstBus tickets. These services will serve all stops in Easton, before then diverting to resume normal route at Honingham (Berrys Lane). We are anticipating some delay to these services as a result of the diversion. 

As detailed below, FirstBus tickets will be valid for travel on the 20:00 & 22:00 departures from Norwich Bus Station.

Service 8:

From 20:00, all services are diverted between Norwich (Elveden Close) and either North Tuddenham or Eckling Grange via Barnham Broom & Mattishall, as per the below temporary timetable which will be in place on this evening only. Services are liable to operate with delays after 20:00 - so we would advise that you track your bus on our app for live updates.

A PDF download of the above timetable is available here for your convenience.

Phase 1 - 1st July to 31st July

From the 1st July, the Easton roundabout itself will be closed, but access to Dereham Road will still be available for vehicles heading eastbound, as per the below sketch that we have been provided.

During this time, service 4 will be on diversion towards Norwich only. Services towards Norwich will operate along the A47 from the Easton roundabout to Longwater Interchange, coming off here. Services will then approach Easton from the east, serving the Premier Inn stop, the Showground stops, then turning left onto Dunham Road. A temporary stop for Easton College will be provided here, which service 4 will serve. Services will then operate along Bawburgh Road to rejoin Dereham Road in Easton at the Bawburgh Road bus stops. We will not be able to serve the Marlingford Road bus shelter towards Norwich during this phase of works.

Towards Dereham, our service 4 will be unaffected and will serve all stops (including Marlingford Road) as normal.

Phase 2 - 1st August until end of 2026

From the 31st July (please check back closer for date confirmation), the works will progress further and the access from Dereham Road onto the A47 will be closed entirely, as per the below sketch that we have been provided.

Service 4 towards Norwich will continue to operate the above diversion, but from this date service 4 towards Dereham will also the follow the above diversion route. Services towards both Dereham & Norwich will operate the same way around the loop (Dunham Road, then Bawburgh Road) so if boarding at the Easton College temporary stop or the Bawburgh Road stop, please check the destination screen or check with the driver to ensure you are joining the bus in the correct direction.

This diversion is then expected to continue without interruption until the end of 2026 as the National Highways scheme progresses. There will be some additional weekend closures taking place in association with these works, but we have yet to have the dates confirmed to us. Please check back for further information.

From September, we will be looking to introduce new service 34 operating between Easton College, Easton Village & Norwich City Centre - operating every hour, off-peak only to hopefully bring connectivity more in-line with the Excel service within the funding constraints we are presented with. We will also seek to improve morning & evening peak arrivals on route 4 to/from Norwich City Centre, again to make your travel as convenient as possible during these works. Further information will be posted on our website's news section when we are able to share further details of these changes.

FirstBus Excel travel arrangements

Norfolk County Council have informed us that for safety reasons, FirstBus Excel has taken the decision to not serve the village through these works. As such, the council have provided funding for service 4 to accept any valid tickets for travel on Excel (e.g. Norwich Outer or Excel day/week/month tickets) which will be valid under the following conditions:

• Travel on service 4 to/from Easton to any point along the route, including Dereham, Longwater or Norwich City Centre (your journey must start/end at Easton, tickets would not be valid for travel for a through journey from Norwich to Dereham for instance)
• Travel on service 8C from Norwich to Easton College (& return in the evening) for any students travelling to/from Easton College
• Travel on service 8 at 23:30 from Norwich Rail Station (23:40 from Norwich Bus Station) on Monday to Saturday, which will (upon request to the driver) operate through Easton to drop any passengers off as required. This will only be possible when the A47 is open, this arrangement will not apply during any A47 weekend closures, announced separately on our website.
• Travel on service 8 at 18:50 from Norwich Rail Station (19:00 from Norwich Bus Station) on Sundays & Public Holidays, which will which will (upon request to the driver) operate through Easton to drop any passengers off as required. This will only be possible when the A47 is open, this arrangement will not apply during any A47 weekend closures, announced separately on our website.

Excel services will be serving Longwater Retail Park, for the purposes of allowing any passengers to travel on a 4 from Easton to Longwater to then join onward connections towards Kings Lynn or Cringleford Interchange.

Finally, FirstBus tickets will not be set up to scan on our buses, so please present these clearly to the driver as flash passes so they can ensure the ticket is valid and can log it accordingly. 

Company Statement

As bus operators, we maintain a strong working relationship with Norfolk County Council (NCC) on matters pertaining to roads that are under their control - and while emergency utility works can cause many unplanned road closures, pre-planned works are always communicated well to bus operators, allowing us to collaboratively deliver a good quality public transport solution to major infrastructure projects that cause extreme disruption to the road network and consequently the local bus network.

As a previous example, the Long Stratton Bypass project caused severe disruption to Simonds, FirstBus & Konectbus services, but due to the close working relationship between Octavius, Norfolk County Council & bus operators, we had several months to plan diversion routes and were consequently able to secure funding for a range of disruption mitigation measures, including additional bus services for affected communities, near-universal ticket acceptance between most operators and services in South Norfolk and funding for the production of comprehensive publicity covering all operators with easy to understand maps and summaries of diversions through phases of work.

As a result, it is incredibly disappointing to see National Highways provide us with only 20 working days notice of this major roadworks scheme that will inevitably cause extreme disruption and distress to the residents of Easton, who have already been disrupted in almost every weekend closure performed to date despite our best efforts to secure funding from National Highways to provide Easton with a usable level of service over these weekends, which have all been ignored to date.

As a result of this short notice announcement and the lack of any funding provided by National Highways, we have been working closely, and as quickly as possible, with Norfolk County Council to secure a workable outcome for bus passengers for the duration of the works. In this instance, with FirstBus being unable to serve Easton due to safety concerns with turning their larger buses around within Easton, the most practical solution that could be delivered affordably and mobilised quickly is to allow FirstBus passes to be used on Konectbus services to ensure that, while Easton will have a reduced level of service, no passengers would be left behind even if they had FirstBus period tickets.

Unfortunately, the short amount of time we have had to arrange the above means that our communications have come out significantly later than we would like for a project of this scale, which we believe has also resulted in some confusion about what the bus service will look like with only limited information available up until this point. We can only apologise for this but hope that with information available from Norfolk County Council, ourselves and FirstBus that travel options in Easton from the 1st July onwards are clear, even if they are a reduction from the service currently available.

We are doing everything we can to support Easton residents during these roadworks. In addition to the arrangements outlined above for service 4, from September, we are also introducing new route 34, which will offer an hourly off-peak service between Easton and Norwich City Centre, to provide additional capacity. This will restore a half hourly bus service to Easton, between routes 4 and 34. FirstBus tickets will be accepted on route 34 as well as route 4. We are also investigating any opportunities to enhance our peak time offering, regardless of any funding available from agencies and will update further as soon as we can share any further details.

We would also like to call on National Highways to do the right thing for Easton residents, and urgently engage with ourselves and Norfolk County Council, to provide the additional funding required to provide additional bus services for Easton, for example extra journeys direct to Norwich at peak times to provide extra capacity and more suitable arrival times for students.

For live details on Konectbus/Central Connect diversions as a result of these works, please see www.konectbus.co.uk/easton-roadworks until 30th June, then www.central-connect.co.uk/easton-roadworks from 30th June onwards.