A27 to Arundel road works..

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Can anyone suggest a suitable alternative route from Worthing to Winchester (& back), avoiding Arundel please?

Take a look at the A24 - A272?

 

[skipper734]

Either alternate route will add at least 1/2 an hour to the journey.

 

[16bha]

I have to drive to Southampton every bloody day. 2.5 hours today.
Got the tip off on way back to turn off near to Arundel station and it brings you out at Poling. Hooray!!

Didn't quite work, turned off, drove round and round in fog and darkness for twenty mins then came back out at the same junction by Arundel station. Bollocks! Have only just got home...

 

[Everest]

Head east to Littlehampton follow the bypass then north up the A284 to Crossbush and rejoin the A27.

Wouldn't bother with that, there are roadworks at the Crossbush lights. The queues there this morning were hell.

 

[skipper734]

As a forty odd year veteran of this road to hell, well Worthing, Arundel and Chichester are the real hell bits. A27 east of Lewes.
It's basically a victim of AONB, but we should get TWO of the Chichester roundabouts with flyovers in the next ten years. Which is good cos I'd hate it if they built a decent road along the coast and I wasn't here too enjoy it.

 

[Cosmic Joker]

The A27 through Arundel has been a nightmare for years. There is probably a very simple answer, but does anyone know why this has still to be resolved? It seems obvious from the satellite view on google earth where the road was meant to go - there is even a bit of road built pointing in the correct direction, yet it still bottlenecks round by Arundel train station.

It seems to me that they have built a temporary fix at Crossbush, which is still there nearly 20 years later.

When the Crossbush bypass was built in the early 1990's there were various alternative routes for the planned Arundel bypass, crossing the river at differing points and going through or round Binsted Woods in different ways but they all had the eastern section at Crossbush in common, so the County Council successfully lobbied the Department for Transport to do the Crossbush bit first to get the traffic out of the village whilst the rest got sorted out. As you say, a temporary fix. Following that, the junction and dual carriageway at Patching was built. Eventually a preferred route for Arundel was chosen, known as the "Pink/Blue Route" and that was slated to be built after a large Worthing+Lancing scheme, featuring two tunnels, which had been through a year long public enquiry in the mid 1990's, was completed. Nationally, road building had been at a high level since the Tories "Roads for Prosperity" white paper in 1989, although precious little investment was put into most other forms of transport.

In 1996 the roads budget was slashed to raise money for pre-election tax cuts whilst at the same time being seen to respond to environmental criticism / protests over controversial road projects such as Twyford Down and Newbury amongst others. So the various schemes for the south coast (also including Chichester, Lewes-Polegate and Bexhill/Hastings) went back into the melting pot.

The incoming New Labour Government also wanted to be seen to be environmentally friendly and to be financially prudent, sticking to announced Tory spending limits for their first parliamentary term. Accordingly a wizard wheeze was invented - straight out of "Yes Minister" - to avoid spending any money on road improvements or on railways or any other form of major transport investment and avoid making controversial decisions about transport schemes by announcing a series of large scale "Multi-Modal Studies" for all the major transport corridors which were competing for investment funds. These studies would give us all the answers about the future of the transport system.

So lots of firms of consultants were commissioned to spend a few years pouring over facts and figures and running computer simulations and calculating costs and benefits, even for schemes which had already been examined in great detail, but by "old" criteria. One of these was the the South Coast Multi Modal Study (SoCoMMS).

In summer 2002 the Multi Modal Studies reported. The SoCoMMS recommended going ahead with both the Worthing + Lancing and the Arundel Bypasses, plus Bexhill/Hastings link road and putting flyovers on Chichester Bypass. It also recommended double tracking of the Hastings to Ashford railway line and other rail improvements to permit a half hourly express train service between Southampton, Brighton and Ashford. Also a light rapid transit system for Brighton and Hove. The Government thought about all this - and the investment recommendations of the other studies - for a year to a backdrop of some very expensive military adventures in the Middle East, then in July 1993 Alistair Darling got up in front of the House of Commons and announced the following:

"We have to bear in mind our central objective is to enable people to travel in a way that is consistent with our environmental and social objectives. There are therefore some recommendations in these [multi-modal] studies that I cannot accept. As I have said before, unless there is an overriding public interest in a scheme, there should be a strong presumption against building roads through areas of outstanding natural beauty or other sensitive sites. We have a clear duty to do everything that we can to preserve the environment...[a lot of stuff about rejecting proposals in the West Midlands snipped]... Similarly, on the south coast, the Arundel bypass would cut across water meadows damaging an area of outstanding beauty. I am rejecting that proposal, as well as proposals to expand junctions with flyovers on the Chichester bypass and the proposal for a tunnel at Worthing. Each, in my view, has environmental consequences that are unacceptable and avoidable.’

Very little has been heard from the Department for Transport about Arundel or Worthing and Lancing ever since.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

Kind of knew most of that loosely, but interesting to see the more technical explanation. Just one thing... Alistair Darling? 1993? Got me a bit confuzzled on that one.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Didn't Nick Herbert, MP Arundel & South Downs, say after this that no review will be commissioned now until at least 2016. Given these take 5 years plus to be concluded I'm guessing we will have another delay around about 2021 ish!

 

[Grombleton]

Takes the piss...took me 30 mins to get from my house in Wick to my job in Arundel...took the same getting back at 5pm (thought i'd take the Ford Lane road and join the 259 but every other bugger did that and took forever).

Sod this for the next 7 weeks...they resurfaced the station approach road in Arundel overnight, so why not give the same treatment to Crossbush?

 

[Cosmic Joker]

Kind of knew most of that loosely, but interesting to see the more technical explanation. Just one thing... Alistair Darling? 1993? Got me a bit confuzzled on that one.

Damn, should be 2003 of course. Thought i'd edit checked that missive thoroughly before posting, but always one that gets away. Now too late to edit post.

 

[Cosmic Joker]

Sod this for the next 7 weeks...they resurfaced the station approach road in Arundel overnight, so why not give the same treatment to Crossbush?

This one is more than resurfacing; they are replacing much of the material in the road embankments as they are in danger of becoming unstable. The southbound part of the Crossbush junction, taking traffic from Arundel to the A284 Lyminster Road was only ever intended to be a temporary structure for about five years until the main Arundel bypass was built but has now been there for 20 years. Although the problem seems to be just as much with the westbound ramp, which was intended to become an off-slip for traffic from A27 to A284 for Littlehampton and Arundel but has been handling all A27 traffic for 20 years.

Highways Agency - A27 Crossbush Interchange Embankment Repair and Resurfacing Works

 

[spoonie]

how was it tuesday morning ??

 

[strings]

[MENTION=16326]Cosmic Joker[/MENTION] - thanks. I have lived in Littlehampton most of my live (before moving to the Midlands) - I used to drive through Crossbush every day to work (at Arundel Pool) for my summer job whilst at Uni too. That information was all new to me. Thanks for taking the time!

 

[skipper734]

how was it tuesday morning ??

It must be bad. It seems no one has arrived at work yet to give us a sitrep.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

You can be sure that any proposal to bring forward the dualling of the A27 around Arundel will be placed firmly at the bottom of his Ministerial in-tray (or more likely in his shredder) by that well known fan of the A27, Norman Baker.

The so called Honiton to Folkestone trunk road, stuck in a time warp, various lengths of it are still no better than country lanes.

 

[vegster]

I work in Bognor and travel the 259 in from Worthing. Don't think you will find it any better using that road Eastbound .... I passed very slow moving traffic all the way between LA and Bognor compounded by temporary lights in Felpham. Going to be a shat few weeks.

 

[Peter Grummit]

When the Crossbush bypass was built in the early 1990's there were various alternative routes for the planned Arundel bypass, crossing the river at differing points and going through or round Binsted Woods in different ways but they all had the eastern section at Crossbush in common, so the County Council successfully lobbied the Department for Transport to do the Crossbush bit first to get the traffic out of the village whilst the rest got sorted out. As you say, a temporary fix. Following that, the junction and dual carriageway at Patching was built. Eventually a preferred route for Arundel was chosen, known as the "Pink/Blue Route" and that was slated to be built after a large Worthing+Lancing scheme, featuring two tunnels, which had been through a year long public enquiry in the mid 1990's, was completed. Nationally, road building had been at a high level since the Tories "Roads for Prosperity" white paper in 1989, although precious little investment was put into most other forms of transport.

In 1996 the roads budget was slashed to raise money for pre-election tax cuts whilst at the same time being seen to respond to environmental criticism / protests over controversial road projects such as Twyford Down and Newbury amongst others. So the various schemes for the south coast (also including Chichester, Lewes-Polegate and Bexhill/Hastings) went back into the melting pot.

The incoming New Labour Government also wanted to be seen to be environmentally friendly and to be financially prudent, sticking to announced Tory spending limits for their first parliamentary term. Accordingly a wizard wheeze was invented - straight out of "Yes Minister" - to avoid spending any money on road improvements or on railways or any other form of major transport investment and avoid making controversial decisions about transport schemes by announcing a series of large scale "Multi-Modal Studies" for all the major transport corridors which were competing for investment funds. These studies would give us all the answers about the future of the transport system.

So lots of firms of consultants were commissioned to spend a few years pouring over facts and figures and running computer simulations and calculating costs and benefits, even for schemes which had already been examined in great detail, but by "old" criteria. One of these was the the South Coast Multi Modal Study (SoCoMMS).

In summer 2002 the Multi Modal Studies reported. The SoCoMMS recommended going ahead with both the Worthing + Lancing and the Arundel Bypasses, plus Bexhill/Hastings link road and putting flyovers on Chichester Bypass. It also recommended double tracking of the Hastings to Ashford railway line and other rail improvements to permit a half hourly express train service between Southampton, Brighton and Ashford. Also a light rapid transit system for Brighton and Hove. The Government thought about all this - and the investment recommendations of the other studies - for a year to a backdrop of some very expensive military adventures in the Middle East, then in July 1993 Alistair Darling got up in front of the House of Commons and announced the following:

"We have to bear in mind our central objective is to enable people to travel in a way that is consistent with our environmental and social objectives. There are therefore some recommendations in these [multi-modal] studies that I cannot accept. As I have said before, unless there is an overriding public interest in a scheme, there should be a strong presumption against building roads through areas of outstanding natural beauty or other sensitive sites. We have a clear duty to do everything that we can to preserve the environment...[a lot of stuff about rejecting proposals in the West Midlands snipped]... Similarly, on the south coast, the Arundel bypass would cut across water meadows damaging an area of outstanding beauty. I am rejecting that proposal, as well as proposals to expand junctions with flyovers on the Chichester bypass and the proposal for a tunnel at Worthing. Each, in my view, has environmental consequences that are unacceptable and avoidable.’

Very little has been heard from the Department for Transport about Arundel or Worthing and Lancing ever since.

Thanks for that take CJ, I am guessing you work at WSCC?

A brief adjunct from someone also involved in the Multi-Modal Studies. These had a broader remit to consider the wider impacts of transport investment ie social, environmental and economic rather than the traditional cost:benefit approach that essentially compared costs with time and accident cost savings. The Access to Hastings MMS was the first to report and although the Steering Group recommended the Hastings Bypasses, the technical report highlighted significant risk that the economic benefits postulated would not be realised, and that the impacts of road building through an SSSI would be severe. This, in part, led to the policy change that you quote from Darling. In Hastings, the scheme was modified to avoid the SSSI and reduce the environmental impact. For Crossbush/Arundel it is hard to see how that could be done given the need to cross the Arun and that the landscape north of Arundel is (rightly) protected.

PG

 

[Mellotron]

I live in Brighton, and work in Arundel.

This morning I tried going off the A27 at Shoreham up Steyning way, through Storrington and Amberley. Blocked up a bit at Storrington but got into work only about 25 minutes late.

 

[foul old ron]

Sod this for the next 7 weeks...they resurfaced the station approach road in Arundel overnight, so why not give the same treatment to Crossbush?[/QUOTE]

They are working 24 hours a day on this.

 

[skipper734]

Came through at 10.30 , the cones are being cleared. Half an hour this morning West to East. Non stop this evening East to West.