Here's a sneak preview of how Sussex's major roads could look if the Government accepts a major study to be published next week.

For two years, planners have been poring over maps and studying traffic flow in a bid to finally solve the traffic nightmare on the South Coast.

Congestion, bottlenecks and jams make commuting a daily misery for thousands of motorists.

As well as improving roads, consultants were tasked to find better ways of getting everybody around.

The result, the South Coast Multi-Modal Study, is due to be published next week but we have been given a sneak preview of its findings.

If the Government agrees, the study will be a blueprint for £1 billion worth of transport improvements over 30 years.

It includes controversial plans for congestion charging on the roads into Brighton and Hove as well as hiking parking charges for shoppers and workers.

To encourage drivers to ditch their cars, there are plans for a new light railway or guided bus network taking the strain of cross-city traffic.

A spruced-up railway service, dubbed the Coastal Express, will ply its way along the coast every 30 minutes stopping at six new stations, including one at Shoreham airport.

People in Hastings, still reeling from the Government's rejection of plans for a bypass, have been given new hope with a link road seen by some objectors as a 'back-door bypass'.

Plans to clear the twice-daily bottleneck on the A27 north of Worthing are particularly ambitious.

The engineers foresee a series of road tunnels giving cars more space while appeasing the environmentalists worried about damage to the Downs.

As well as all these new measures, consultant Halcrow believes there must be an ideological shift.

Working from home, car sharing and more cycling and walking are the so-called soft measures in a scheme, which will still be hard for many to swallow.

Environmentalists have already voiced their concerns.

It is now up to each local authority to have its say before the 115-page report goes back to the Government for approval.

Some of the report's major proposals are:

Hastings: Improvements to the A21, which the AA called the worst road in Sussex and 38th worst in the UK. It had almost three times the average number of crashes involving death or serious injury last year. Also under consideration are plans for a link to the A21 along Queensway in Hastings.

Beddingham: The widely-lamented level crossing at Beddingham, near Lewes, could be replaced with a flyover. Consultants say it would reduce traffic queues and allow trains to run more frequently. East of Beddingham there are plans for improvements at Selmeston and Wilmington.

Bexhill: A controversial link road between Hastings and Bexhill is recommended. Supporters say it will cut congestion and, ultimately, help regenerate the area. Friends of the Earth feel the link road could be a bypass under a different name.

Arundel bypass: The accident rate on the A27 through Arundel is double the national rate. Worthing and Arundel are regarded as the two worst bottlenecks on the so-called "Folkestone-Honiton superhighway".

Worthing: Plans for a Worthing-Lancing bypass have been on the agenda since the Sixties. The report proposes a series of tunnels on the Worthing-Lancing stretch.

Brighton: Plans to introduce a £2 road toll for commuters coming into the city, hike parking charges in the centre and charge workers for parking spaces. A 'supertram' or guided bus network. A park-and-ride scheme has also been suggested.