Emergency sewer repairs under the A1120 at Yoxford are progressing on schedule, with the most difficult part of the work now completed.
The work forced the closure of the popular route earlier this month, with Anglian Water engineers predicting the complex and delicate job could take up to five weeks.
Antony Innes, from Anglian Water, said: “The most disruptive part of the work, replacing the severely damaged section of sewer, has now been completed.
“Our engineers are now working on the second stage of the emergency repair - to reline other, very fragile parts of the sewer. This should significantly reduce the chances of future problems and collapses.
“At this stage we are on track to be able to reopen the road within the predicted five week period. We will of course push to complete the work sooner if possible.”
While the road closure is in place a diversion is directing traffic from the A1120 at Badingham onto the B1120 towards Framlingham, before joining the B1119 and reconnecting with the A12 at Saxmundham.
Antony continued: “We know this work is not ideal and has come at a very unfortunate time of year. That’s why we are working as quickly and effectively as possible to reopen the road ahead of schedule and doing what we can to reduce the impact of businesses.
“This collapsed section of sewer was discovered as part of a wider sewer improvement scheme in the Yoxford area, which will see over two kilometres of pipes ‘relined’ in Little Street and High Street.
“To try and reduce the longer term impact of this ongoing project in the area we have been able to bring forward a lot of this relining work. However, this does mean that once the road has reopened there will still need to be two-way traffic lights in place for another three weeks or so.
“Once again we are sorry for the disruption and inconvenience this work has caused.”