Tim Passmore, the Conservative candidate to become the first elected mayor for the two counties, named the Norwich Western Link and the Orwell crossing in Ipswich as two schemes he would target.

The Western Link - long a flagship project of Tory-run Norfolk County Council - is in limbo after the council pulled the plug on previous plans in the face of environmental concerns.

But with the new mayor set to get new powers over transport, devolved from Whitehall, Mr Passmore said that could be an opportunity to push the project forward.

The mayor will also have access to an investment fund and councils have already been drawing up wish lists for projects they would like to see money committed to.

But with that money spread across two counties with a combined population of 1.7m - Norfolk with 931,000 and Suffolk with 776,000 - Mr Passmore acknowledged there could be tensions over where it is spent.

He said: "There's got to be a reasonable distribution between Norfolk and Suffolk and I believe we have to have open and transparent decision-making around that.

"We have got to be able to explain why were are doing some things and not others. It is about priorities.

"I think we'd need to look at road schemes which are half complete and finish them off."

Plans for the Norwich Western Link road were withdrawn (Image: Newsquest)

He said that could include

© Eastern Daily Press