Dual carriageway plan for the A259 (From The Argus)

Dual carriageway plan for the A259

2:20pm Tuesday 19th March 2013 in News By Kimberly Middleton, Acting chief reporter

Parks of the A259 would be turned into a dual carriageway under plans to cut queues through West Sussex.

West Sussex County Council has drawn up £13.5 million proposals to widen the road between Worthing and Littlehampton and improve its roundabouts.

The road is plagued by congestion at places where it switches between two lanes and one lane.

A report due to be considered by the council on Thursday (March 21) details how the road from the Arun to Goring Crossways roundabout can be improved.

Councillor James Walsh, the chairman of Arun District Council’s leisure, tourism and infrastructure working group, said there were two main reasons why the route is frequently congested.

Dr Walsh said: “The growth in population in Bognor and Littlehampton over the past 20 years has led to a lot more usage of the road.

“Also because of bottlenecks on the A27, in particular at Worthing but also at Arundel, a lot of people use the A259 as a bypass.

“It puts enormous pressure on the route and, in addition, there has been the development of Asda at Ferring, Haskins and Morrisons at Littlehampton which have also increased the traffic flow.

“There are very frustrating and long queues at all the pinch-points at Angmering, Rustington and Littlehampton during the morning and evening rush hours.”

'Improved circulation'

He said a series of solutions have been put forward to improve the route.

Work on the roundabouts on the route is expected to take place in the next 12 to 18 months.

Dr Walsh said: “The work would improve circulation and therefore flow across the roundabout.”

Work to dual sections between the Wick roundabout and the Body Shop roundabout, from the Station Road roundabout to the Roundstone Lane roundabout and the Roundstone Lane roundabout to the A280 roundabout should be completed in the next five years.

That work would cost more than £9 million.

Dr Walsh said the work would be paid for partly by West Sussex County Council and possibly also Arun District Council, but would mainly come from contributions from local developments, agreed as part of their planning permission.

Talking point: What problems have you experienced along this stretch of road? How could it be improved?

Share your views by commenting below or write in to The Argus letters pages letters@theargus.co.uk

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