Lynn’s MP has called for action to improve the main route linking the town to Norwich and Peterborough - 25 years after it was first proposed.
North West Norfolk MP Henry Bellingham spoke up in support of the campaign for improvements to the A47 during a House of Commons debate on Thursday.
And a transport minister has indicated the road is well placed to attract government cash.
Mr Bellingham spoke during an adjournment debate on the issue, which was secured by the mid-Norfolk MP George Freeman.
He pointed out that a White Paper called Roads for Prosperity, which was first published in 1988, had called for the whole of the road to be made into a dual carriageway.
He said: “After all those years, we really must make more progress.”
Supporters of an upgrade argue that the project is vital to promote economic growth across the county.
And Mr Bellingham added: “Norwich has the most phenomenal potential and is going to move forward, and King’s Lynn wants to do the same.
“If King’s Lynn is connected to Norwich by an improved A47, it will really be a part of that economic regeneration.
“That is why this is so important not just for links to the rest of the country, but within Norfolk itself.”
Mr Freeman described the route as a “blocked artery” and called for ministers to unblock it for the good of the country as a whole, as well as for Norfolk.
Responding for the government, transport minister Stephen Hammond said the project could be considered under a route based analysis programme, which is already being trialled on three roads – the M62, A1 and A12.
He said: “That is ideally placed to be considered one of the earliest route-based strategies in the forthcoming programme, and I hope that it will be among the first one or two after the three that we are currently considering.
“I recognise absolutely the importance of the A47 and the economic improvements that it could bring.”
He added that there had already been a number of improvements carried out along the road, although several projects, including a proposed bypass for the villages of East Winch and Middleton, had been shelved by the previous Labour government.
Any new money for the route would be available no earlier than 2015.
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