£350m spend on A27 upgrade

[BensGrandad]

I seem to remember when I was growing up, a huge plan for a 'Dover to Honition Trunk Road'

Is this still the vision?

That was the reason for the compulsory purchase of houses west of Offngton Corner and the part road at Crossbush. I think the idea was for a type of motorway east to west across the country or to link the existng dual carriageways.

 

[Seagull73]

But the new road would take 98% of the traffic FURTHER AWAY from the castle! Makes no sense.

Quite, and as I say it could be just something in my dim and distant past that I thought I'd heard. Nonetheless, it has always amazed me that they have looked like they were starting to build the road around Arundel going under the Crossbush junction, and it has just never materialised.

Guessing good old fashioned funding is the more likely culprit.

 

[Seagull73]

That was the reason for the compulsory purchase of houses west of Offngton Corner and the part road at Crossbush. I think the idea was for a type of motorway east to west across the country or to link the existng dual carriageways.

Yes when the Brighton bypass was being built it was part of the 'Folkestone-Honiton improvement'. Bloody big improvement still needed..!

 

[Grombleton]

except then you lose the puntastic names, so how about cartapults and truckbuchets?

yes
yes
make it happen
yes

 

[el punal]

I came to the conclusion a while ago that it's far quicker to drive straight through the middle of Chichester than waste time crawling round the bypass. And going cross-country via Steyning and Storrington avoids both Worthing and Arundel.

Aah! The scenic route - stress free and as one with nature! What are the chances of being shot by a poacher!

 

[Stat Brother]

I don't know how true this is but I heard the reason why that was never finished as because the proposed route is visible from Arundel Castle. And those in situ or English Heritage (can't remember who run it) felt that it would distort the 'experience' of visiting the castle?

Nothing will beat the annual (at least) Crossbush occurrence of 'I wonder why the car in front has dramatically slowed down'?

Ah that'll be the drivers camera coming out of the window to take a photo of the castle.

I wish I was joking.

 

[Frampler]

Doesn't look like they've got much of a plan yet for the Lewes - Polegate stretch. The figure of £75m is being bandied around in multiple places - that would leave £225m for Arundel and Worthing, which won't be enough.

https://twitter.com/StephenLloydEBN/status/539404929195311105

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

As someone who is forced to travel the A27 towards Southampton often, I'm sure that most of the delays delays are caused because roundabouts and sets of traffic lights mean that the main through route doesn't get priority over minor roads. I may be wrong but it seems to me that junction redesign (so that there are more sliproads and fewer roundabouts) could have a more beneficial effect than road widening (which is not possible anyway with the meagre budget on offer).

 

[Lord Bracknell]

two Liberal seats covered on the A27 east of Lewes. interesting to see how the government partners claim ownership.

Stephen Lloyd supports a dual carriageway scheme, Norman Baker has always opposed it. If there is a political motive behind today's announcement, I would say it's a Tory plan to embarrass the Lib Dems.

 

[Peter Grummit]

Doesn't look like they've got much of a plan yet for the Lewes - Polegate stretch. The figure of £75m is being bandied around in multiple places - that would leave £225m for Arundel and Worthing, which won't be enough.

https://twitter.com/StephenLloydEBN/status/539404929195311105

£75m would leave £275m for West Sussex. Chichester junction improvement money was announced last year, so Arundel bypass plus relatively minor junction improvements through Worthing/Adur as per the Atkins report cited above. That work was taken forward by HA with an as-yet-unpublished A27 route study.

The £75m might buy you widening eastbound Lewes-Beddingham plus some other online improvements at accident blackspots eg Charleston dip, but not a dual carriageway to Polegate.

PG

 

[Lord Bracknell]

There never was a plan to build a motorway from Folkestone to Honiton. It was simply the case that the Department for Transport (or its predecessors) always liked to give names to bits of the trunk road network. They came up with the "Folkestone to Honiton Trunk Road" back in the late 1970s, but by the 1990s, they started to call it the South Coast Trunk Road.

From east to west, it's the M20 from Folkestone to Ashford, the A2070 to Brenzett, the A259 to Pevensey, the A27 to Portsmouth, the M27 to Cadnam, the A31 to Bere Regis, and the A35 to Honiton.

 

[tedlit]

My dads house was "compulsorily purchased" for the Durrington-Offington part of the original 1990s mess - I remember sitting in the public inquiry (1993?), and the one thing that struck me at the time that it was almost being treated as a foregone conclusion that the "shove a dual carriageway through the middle of Worthing/Lancing" was what would happen. There was a point in the '90s where almost all the houses around Crockhurst Hill and Warren Road were empty, boarded up, or being rented out. I don't remember what the costings were back then, but it was a lot more than 350m.

The work on the Arundel bypass was very much tied to the Worthing throughpass - so when one died, the other kinda had to as well.

 

[Badger]

Just make the road double-decker, problem solved.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

The £75m might buy you widening eastbound Lewes-Beddingham plus some other online improvements at accident blackspots eg Charleston dip, but not a dual carriageway to Polegate.

PG

That's the word on the street out our way. And there will be a lot of local consultation on the detail.

 

[Peter Grummit]

That's the word on the street out our way. And there will be a lot of local consultation on the detail.

Quite right too. Need to get the allowable turning movements right(!)

PG

 

[BensGrandad]

Lord B you are right it was to have been a joining up of dual carriageways. I think the idea of it becoming a motorway was in the minds of people as the next step on from that.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Lord B you are right it was to have been a joining up of dual carriageways. I think the idea of it becoming a motorway was in the minds of people as the next step on from that.

I doubt if we will ever see another formally designated motorway in the UK (in the sense of a new road numbered "M something"). Look at the recent upgrading of that bit of the A23 at Handcross, as an example. A high spec trunk road, but nevertheless open to learner drivers and other "non-motorway" traffic. Long-distance high-speed roads, segregated from roads that carry local traffic, have simply gone out of fashion.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Quite right too. Need to get the allowable turning movements right(!)

PG

Indeed. The interesting thing about the dual carriageway proposals that were put forward in the early 1990s was the fact that a very high proportion of the existing local traffic that travels on the road between Polegate and Lewes wouldn't have been allowed access on to the new dual carriageway. And there were no plans to provide any safety improvements on the old road that this local traffic would have been confined to.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

I remember hearing that it is also much to do with the loss of 'Ancient Woodland', and also I think Arun Council have a planning policy about preserving the vistas around Arundel, this says "Development will not be permitted within the town of Arundel or beyond which would adversely affect the rural views outwards from the town and in particular from the following locations... Development will not be permitted which would adversely affect the long distance views of Arundel Castle or Arundel Cathedral." The reason for this is to "protect the setting of historic Arundel, which is of national and local importance". However, one would hope that the clear national and regional economic benefits would outweigh the harm in this respect (much like the arguments that related to Falmer - i.e. benefits to community/economy vs harm to countryside). It is all about a planning balance, but to my mind it is a no brainer. The bypass is needed now.

Worthing on the other hand is just a nightmare (not just the place!). Bypass is surely not an option, a tunnel is laughable, and they already tried widening following CPO's, but then gave up on this!

"Ancient Woodland" is a tag used a lot, but what does "Ancient Woodland" really mean and how is it defined? Roads have been built and upgraded through it, planning has been permitted in it?

Locally I don't want this but it is very much needed and can only really be objected to on the grounds of not wanting it in our back yard which is a bit rich seen as most use the already developed A27, A24 and A23, and will possibly use the soon to be developed A29 by pass.

 

[BensGrandad]

wasnt there a suggestion for a dual carriage way from the western end of the one near Shoreham Airport to go over or through the downs at the side of Steyning and Storrington and run north of Arundel to join up at Fontwell