A £60 million road improvement package will make driving quicker and safer for 100,000 motorists a day using Sussex's busiest roads.

The Government has pledged £40.5 million to widen the Handcross to Warninglid stretch of the A23 - a road which has become infamous for its poor safety record and has been the scene of 20 deaths in 14 months.

A further £19 million will go towards ditching the Beddingham level crossing - one of the worst bottlenecks on the A27 which regularly causes tailbacks of over a mile in rush-hour traffic - and replacing it with a bridge over the railway.

Although the improvements could lead to months of disruption, road safety campaigners have hailed the announcement as the best news motorists in Sussex have had in decades.

A spokesman for West Sussex County Council said: "It's very good news. We have been pushing for work on the A23 for some time and this is a real step forward."

Gloria Marshall, whose son and daughter died in a horrific crash on the A23 near Warninglid last year, said: "I am extremely pleased but will continue campaigning for a network of speed cameras along the road."

There have been eight deaths and at least 62 accidents resulting in injury on the Handcross section of the A23 over the past six years - twice the national average for this type of road. There were 25 accidents at the automatic barrier at the Beddingham crossing between 1999 and 2002.

Campaigners have been calling for improvements to both stretches for over a decade. The A23 was due to be upgraded in the Nineties but the Government withdrew money for the scheme.

Steve Mohabir, 36, from Crawley, lost his two-year-old son Marcus in the crash near Warninglid and was injured himself. He said: "It is nice to hear money's going towards this but I would like to see more done about slowing people down."

Congestion is a major problem on both roads, with 63,000 vehicles a day travelling the 3.8km section of the A23 and 30,000 vehicles using the Beddingham stretch of the A27.

Tony Fortnam, vice-chairman of Glynde and Beddingham Parish Council, lives off the Beddingham roundabout.

He said: "The plans will greatly reduce congestion and pollution because all the lorries on their way to the Channel ports sit there pumping out exhaust fumes."

The two-lane stretch of the A23 will be increased to three lanes to match the motorway standard sections on either side.

The white-line markings on the road will be realigned and private access points improved.

There were problems for the original scheme to improve the road because it encroached on National Trust countryside.

A Highways Agency spokeswoman said: "The road widening will be sympathetic to the land around it and will not cross National Trust boundaries."

There is currently a climbing lane leading up the hill towards Lewes so cars can overtake. This will be extended through to Southerham roundabout but the westbound lane will remain a single carriageway.

Southerham and Beddingham roundabouts will be improved, as will facilities for cyclists and pedestrians.

Construction is expected to begin in 2006 and be completed the following year.

In the event of unresolved objections, a public inquiry would be held this autumn.