Earlham Road will be closed to traffic this weekend as part of ongoing works to make the busy Norwich road safer.

The road will be closed from 7am today (Saturday) from the Christchurch Road junction and will not reopen until 7pm on Sunday evening.

During the closure access will be maintained and diversion signs put in place.

The closure marks the first of four weekend closures as part of a £1.6m project for Earlham Road which will see new cycle lanes created on both sides of the road, a 20mph speed limit, new zebra crossings and junction improvements.

Mike Stonard, Norwich City Council's cabinet member with responsibility for the Transport for Norwich partnership, said: "This work marks the next phase of our project to improve road safety for cyclists in the Earlham Road area. Our research showed that this section of the green pedalway had the highest level of accidents over a five-year study period and, using the funding awarded from the DfT, we are building a project that addresses this through a series of changes between the outer ring road roundabout and the junction with Heigham Road.

"Since 2013, the numbers of cyclists passing through the area has more than doubled and this, combined with growth in housing numbers, means it's important we create the safest routes possible to connect the areas where people live with sites of employment and education, and the city centre.

"We would like to thank everyone for their patience while we complete both of the safety improvement schemes in Earlham Road. This has been programmed so most of the work will be over the school and university summer holidays to help reduce the impact."

First bus company posted on its website that due to the closure of Earlham Road, blue line 26, 26A buses will be diverted via Unthank Road today and tomorrow. Stops on Earlham Road and those on Colman Road between the Avenues and Earlham Road will not be served.

The next weekend road closure will take place on Saturday August 3 until Sunday August 4.