Sussex gridlocked by unplanned roadworks (From The Argus)

Sussex gridlocked by unplanned roadworks

10:30am Wednesday 24th February 2010

• Print
• Email
• Comments(23)

Traffic is grinding to a halt across Sussex because of a series of unplanned roadworks.

Road gangs are carrying out 153 separate pieces of work this week on potholes and general maintenance.

Critics say that highways bosses and utilities firms are in a race against time to spend their budgets before the end of the financial year, causing further misery for drivers.

The vast majority of the work is unplanned, mainly due to the bad weather experienced over the past few months.

Engineers are now working round the clock to repair the thousands of potholes that have appeared in recent weeks.

But politicians are questioning why all the work is being carried out at the same time.

Norman Baker, MP for Lewes, said: “We seem to have non-stop roadworks in my constituency and this is having severe impact to the residents, traders and businesses.

“This is not to mention the enormous frustration to motorists who are facing long delays.

“If work has to be carried out there has to be some form of communication between all of the agencies involved to ensure people can still get where they need to.”

Roger French, managing director of Brighton and Hove Bus Company, said: “It does have an impact on the reliability of bus services.

“There does seem to be a running case every year with utilities companies needing to spend their money before the end of the financial year.”

Paul Watters, of the AA, said: “A lot of work has been put by the wayside because of the weather so that is happening now.

“The other issue is that local authorities are at the end of their financial year and want to use up their budgets. There is too much work going on."

See today's Argus for full report and for a map of the county's roadwork blackspots.

The Argus has been inundated with calls from our readers about potholes in Sussex.

Local authorities are investing millions of pounds to try and solve the problem.

Brighton and Hove City Council stated earlier this month it faced a £100,000 pothole repair bill.

In addition, there are currently 17 listed cases of roadworks in Brighton and Hove, which includes long term projects in Lewes Road, North Street and Marine Drive.

It also includes measures put in place for the Conservative Spring Party conference in the Hotel Metropole in Kings Road this weekend.

Brighton and Hove City Councillor Ian Davey said: “There is a real need to balance the need of all road users.

“The city was badly affected by potholes and it is good to see workers are taking robust action to repair them.”

Of the current major disruptions 74 are taking place in West Sussex.

The county council states another 48 are already scheduled for the next six months.

A spokeswoman for West Sussex County Council said: “Many of these are associated with repairing gas and electrical services which have suffered over the winter.

“According to our figures, only 20% of works are planned, the rest being reactive and emergency repair works.

“However our view is that the overall amount of works remains about the same year on year.”

East Sussex has 62 cases of maintenance work, 13 of which are listed as being likely to cause high impact.

A spokesman for East Sussex County Council said: “Any extra work to improve the roads has nothing to do with the end of the financial year.

“The recent spell of extended cold weather has seen some of the worst conditions in 30 years.

“This has resulted in an unprecedented number of potholes of varying size and depth across our roads.

“We are investing nearly £10m on improving the county’s roads and have more than 20 extra maintenance gangs working, around the clock where necessary, to systematically seek out and repair them.”

A spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: “The council has a programme of managed road works and is also co-ordinating emergency and maintenance works as usual this year.”

A spokesman for the Highways Agency, which monitors the county’s major roads, said: “Any road defects that represent an immediate safety hazard are repaired within 24 hours.

"Additional surface repairs or maintenance not urgent but required after the current period of severe weather will be undertaken within our current programmes and budgets."

He added most of the work is completed overnight when traffic flows are at their lowest.

ENDS