FLYOVERS could be built along the A27 to help relieve traffic on a notoriously clogged-up section of the road.

Highways England is trying to improve the section of the A27 at Chichester where traffic is often slowed by the current six junctions.

It is investing £4.2 billion on roads in the South East over the next five years to try to bring average journey times down to a minute per mile.

Highways England said yesterday in a special briefing that an extra six miles of dual carriageway along the A27 is also being proposed.

Angela Koenig, Highways England group leader for major projects in the South East, said plans for the Chichester area were being developed by experts before being opened up for consultation.

She said: “Our preferred option is to improve the existing junctions along the existing route.

“Some of the options around the junctions are to put an extra level of separation in so you don’t have to go to a roundabout, you can go straight through.

“So, for some of them, you might need to put a flyover in so that you can go straight across rather than having to stop at the roundabout.”

Engineers hope an improved A27 will also mean less traffic on local roads, making life better for residents.

Ms Koenig added: “We could also put in traffic lights that only stop when movements want to cross the road, specifically buses.

“There is a whole range of measures that we are looking at.”

Highways England is also looking at investing about £425 million to create an extra six miles of dual carriageway along the A27 to try to relieve congestion at Arundel, Worthing, Lancing and Lewes.

Feasibility studies are being conducted, with the plans at a very early stage.

Ms Keonig said: “What we are hoping for is to improve the consistency of journeys and then, secondly, to try to reduce the journey time.

“The smart motorway approach is get extra capacity without widening it, so that is our preferred option, but some of these roads are very rural, so the only thing to do is to widen.”

Work around the Chichester bypass is due so start at the latest by 2019/20, with no date set for improvements further along the road.