The Polegate bypass is days away from being completed after almost two years of stop-start construction work.

Residents are counting down the days to the opening of the A27 bypass after enduring years of lorries thundering past their homes.

More than 200 signs have already gone up in Eastbourne, Polegate, Willingdon, Pevensey, Stone Cross and Westham alerting motorists to new road layouts.

Work on the £24 million, 1.8-mile bypass started in October 2000 after more than a year's wait after the go-ahead was given.

Highways Agency officials predicted it would take 18 months to complete the road, which runs from the A22 at Cophall Farm to the western end of the Pevensey bypass at Dittons.

The new A22 will carry most of the traffic from the A27 at Polegate into Eastbourne along a two-kilometre stretch of dual carriageway on to Willingdon Drove.

Traffic heading for the town centre and areas west of Eastbourne will be directed along Cross Levels Way.

And drivers heading for the seafront and areas east of Eastbourne will be directed along Lottbridge Drove.

With poor weather, ground work problems and the foot and mouth crisis, the scheme was plagued by stoppages.

But the Highways Agency is now predicting a June 19 finish.

Business leaders believe improved infrastructure in Sussex is vital for firms to establish better trade links.

Sussex Enterprise has predicted the county's poor road infrastructure costs businesses around £250 million a year, and more than 10,000 jobs.

Polegate town clerk Rod Tice said: "The people of Polegate have been looking forward to this for years after suffering continual traffic problems."