Council bosses have confirmed that the A1151 Wroxham Road will close this Friday and is likely to remain shut for nine days and 10 nights because of work on the Norwich Northern Distributor Road.

The road - the busiest route into the heart of the Norfolk Broads - will be shut from 8pm on Friday and will probably not be open again until 6am on Monday, October 16.

Norfolk County Council says the closure to all traffic – including cyclists and pedestrians – is unavoidable because a wide trench has to be cut across Wroxham Road to allow the installation of a deep drainage culvert as part of construction of the NDR.

The council says thrust-boring under the road without a closure is not possible in this environmentally sensitive location, which includes the nearby fishing lakes at The Springs. There will be no access to the fishing lakes during the closure.

As well as construction of the culvert, the closure will be used to complete as much as possible of the A1151 Wroxham Road roundabout on the NDR, the council says.

During the work, light traffic will (from Norwich direction) be diverted via Norwich Ring Road, Salhouse Road and Green Lane West.

However, the 7.5 tonne weight limit on Green Lane West means that lorries, including those serving Rackheath Industrial Estate, must continue on Salhouse Road to Salhouse and use the B1140 to re-join the A1151 at Wroxham.

The diversions will operate in reverse for traffic heading towards Norwich.

Once complete, the NDR will stretch from the A47 at Postwick to the A1067 Fakenham Road. It is due to open in sections, with the first part, from the A1067 to the A140 Cromer Road, due to open next month.