Work to dual the final stretch of the A11 will begin as soon as the Christmas break is over.

Officials revealed that workmen will arrive on site in the first few days of January at the first of a three-day public exhibition about the scheme.

They added that the long-awaited project to dual the 9.1 mile stretch of road between the Fiveways roundabout in Suffolk and Thetford will be carried out in nine phases, with the first concentrating on a new 900 metre stretch of road approximately one kilometre from the B1112.

Workmen will begin with the southbound carriageway which motorists will then be moved onto while the northbound side is built.

Highways Agency project manager, Robert Gibson, said: 'The idea is to inform people of what we've done, what we're going to be doing initially and really answer any questions because a lot of people will have seen the advance works through the trees.

'Now we've culled them people can see it all and we want to explain what we're doing.'

The first phase is expected to be completed by June, with a further three stages finished by the end of next year. The final five will take place in 2014.

Construction of a new bridge connecting the B1106 to the Elveden bypass and the bypass itself will be ongoing throughout the works.

Mr Gibson added that disruption would be kept to a minimum but that speed of vehicles could be controlled to protect workmen and drivers.

Diversions would also be in place at times and some overnight work may involve closing one lane of traffic.

'It's all about informing because we want to keep traffic moving,' he said. 'We're also aware that the major diversion route is through Brandon and it's not best equipped to take HGVs but we've got feedback from overnight closures and it's positive.

'We will meet with the parish councils and county council on a regular basis and will continue that throughout so they're in the know and can feed back to the local electorate.'

Preliminary work for the �134m project, which is due to be completed by December 2014, began last year with the creation of an access road at the Elveden Estate for large vehicles,

Archeological work is due to be completed by Christmas.

The public exhibition, at Elveden Village Hall, will continue until 8pm tonight (Thursday), tomorrow between 10am and 8pm, and Saturday between 10am and 3pm.

To find out more about the scheme and the exhibitions visit www.highways.gov.uk/roads/road-projects/a11-fiveways-to-thetford-improvement or contact the project team by calling the Highways Agency Information Line on 0300 123 5000 or by emailing ha_info@highways.gsi.gov.uk.