The Highway Agency are an utter discrace.

[redneb]

Just driven from Brighton to Crawley and was held up 45 minutes by what looked like drain work at the side of the road at the bottom of Handcross Hill.

Multiple that time by 1000's of people and it's discusting. Were living in recession (apparently) and what does total small mindness like that do to the GDP of a country (assuming it happens in every county). Thick useless establishment.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

Well they are widening the road, its been on the cards for years and will probably take years, so it will only get worse in the coming months not better. May be easier and less stressful to get the train and buy a brompton.

 

[00snook]

Apparently there is a good train line running north from Brighton?

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Will you complain once the road has been widened?

 

[The Large One]

The Highway Agency are an utter discrace.

So's your spelling.

Well, someone had to...

 

[Simster]

You sound like Alan Partridge. It is a fact that the A23 needs widening AND straightening at Handcross.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

So basically Ben didn't allow enough time for his drive to work, and its someone else's fault, he was late.

 

[Badger]

Kids keep you up last night Ben?

 

[Hillian1]

As I recall, the drains needed to be widened as the extra run off of rain water from the tree clearance was forming a small lake at the bottom of the hill.

They could have left it but next heavy rain we would have had threads saying, "Drains crap on Handcross Hill, Utter Disgrace"

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Read all about it:-

Highways Agency - A23 Handcross to Warninglid

The Project

Work on widening the A23 Trunk Road between Handcross and Warninglid, south of Crawley, in West Sussex started in October 2011. The improvements are broadly along the line of the existing A23 and in accordance with modified Orders and an Environmental Statement approved in March 2010.

Key features of the project are:

Approximately 2.4 miles (3.8km) of dual three-lane carriageway to replace the existing dual two-lane carriageway between Handcross and Warninglid junctions located generally within the existing highway boundary. There will be no main carriageway lighting or laybys.
Closure of direct local residential and commercial accesses and provision of alternative access routes to improve safety.
Revised junctions at Handcross and Warninglid including rebuilding the weighbridge site at Handcross.
A two way service road from Warninglid to provide access to commercial and residential properties on the west side of the A23.
Footway/cycleway between Handcross and Warninglid with connections to the local footpath network between Slaugham and Warninglid. Equestrians will also be able to use the route between Slaugham and Warninglid.
Two lanes to be kept open in each direction with 40mph speed restrictions and average speed cameras during construction (further lane restrictions may be installed overnight for specific operations).
Traffic Monitoring of local roads before, during and after construction to assess any affects of the closure of Slaugham junction on the local network.
An estimated range forecast cost of £87 million to £103 million although efficiency savings are now being developed.

Recent Developments

Following the comprehensive spending review, the Secretary of State announced in October 2010, that the A23 scheme would be one of fourteen schemes in England to be prepared for start of construction by 2015. An optimised programme was then developed for the delivery of these schemes with the aim of securing efficiency savings. The programme for the fourteen schemes was announced in April 2011 when it was confirmed that work on A23 would start in the period between October and December 2011. Click here for further details of the optimised programme.

In early April 2011, we made a start on seasonally sensitive environmental advance work such as tree planting and the provision of wildlife boxes which put us in a position to start work on the main scheme in October. During October and November we removed the trees either side of the A23 and in the central reserve on Handcross Hill, and completed clearing other vegetation.

Further environmental mitigation work will continue throughout the winter of 2011/12 following which we will commence the main civil engineering works in the Spring/Summer of 2012. In the first phase of these works we will temporarily widen the southbound carriageway to carry two lanes of traffic in each direction which will enable us to move to the next stage of rebuilding the northbound carriageway. We will also construct the service road serving properties west of the A23 and other replacement access to local properties. Our main site compound will be established on the west side of the A23 north of Warninglid junction next year but meanwhile during the environmental works, an interim site office has been provided at the site of the former Poplar Nursery at Warninglid junction.

 

[edna krabappel]

There are actually a series of night closures of the A23 at Handcross coming up over the next couple of months.

It'll be a long old diversion via the A272 to Cowfold and back on at either Handcross or Crawley on those nights. I'm sure you can probably find the dates online somewhere but I've got them at work somewhere if not, & will post nearer the time.

You see how I like to give out this info, to minimise disruption to the O/P?

 

[Vegas Seagull]

Blame the original planner 30/40 years ago that deliberately put curves in the road design as he thought it would slow people down wheras, in effect, it has killed people including a friend of mine 30 years ago & many since

 

[The Large One]

Just driven from Brighton to Crawley and was held up 45 minutes by what looked like drain work at the side of the road at the bottom of Handcross Hill.

Multiple that time by 1000's of people and it's discusting. Were living in recession (apparently) and what does total small mindness like that do to the GDP of a country (assuming it happens in every county). Thick useless establishment.

So... where is the 'discrace' in all this?

 

[Hillian1]

There are actually a series of night closures of the A23 at Handcross coming up over the next couple of months.

It'll be a long old diversion via the A272 to Cowfold and back on at either Handcross or Crawley on those nights. I'm sure you can probably find the dates online somewhere but I've got them at work somewhere if not, & will post nearer the time.

You see how I like to give out this info, to minimise disruption to the O/P?

Would be easier to go through Cuckfield, right at the Ship rounabout and up Balcombe Road surely?

 

[ifuhatepalacestandup]

The Highway Agency are an utter discrace.

So's your spelling.

Well, someone had to...

and it was either gonna be you or barrel of fun that had to. How many posts do you actually make that are not correcting spelling (not to many ) hope it makes you feel better coz it sure pisses off everyone else

 

[Hillian1]

Blame the original planner 30/40 years ago that deliberately put curves in the road design as he thought it would slow people down wheras, in effect, it has killed people including a friend of mine 30 years ago & many since

Sorry to hear about your friend, but I have driven that road thousands of times and in my opinion it's not the curves to blame. The 23 goes from 3 to 2 lanes at the top and this always causes problems with the "I must just make one more car length" brigade flying up the lane until the last minute and add to that the poxy slip road from Handcross with cars trying to join just after cars have switched lanes to accommodate the afore mentioned impatient ones.

 

[Badger]

the "I must just make one more car length" brigade flying up the lane until the last minute

More commonly referred to as "BMW drivers".

 

[MikeySmall]

Why don't you tell people who give a shit:

Latest News | SaintsWeb

 

[Barrel of Fun]

and it was either gonna be you or barrel of fun that had to. How many posts do you actually make that are not correcting spelling (not to many ) hope it makes you feel better coz it sure pisses off everyone else

I've done that once, you prune.

If one is going to make a mockery of our rivals, at least make sure it is accurate.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

A23 - The Argus

Delays of 40 minutes, one lane closed and queueing traffic for three miles due to collapsed manhole on A23 London bound before Staplefield Road (Slaugham), congestion on A23 to A272 Cowfold Road (Bolney Cross). Lane one (Of two) is closed outside the Handcross garden centre, just before the Slaugham exit. The lane has been closed since shortly before 08:00 this morning.