Work starts this week on a £5.8 million bypass scheme which was delayed for six months because of foot-and-mouth disease.
Construction of the new road at Angmering, near Littlehampton, was due to start last July.
Foot-and-mouth restrictions hampered the archaeological study and ground check but they have now been completed.
Site clearance along the route, which runs between the A27 Patching interchange and the A259 at Roundstone, will take place before construction begins in April.
Hedges and trees are being cleared before bird-nesting begins.
Lieutenant-Colonel Tex Pemberton, West Sussex County Council Cabinet member for strategic environmental services, said: "I am delighted these works to provide this much-needed bypass can finally begin."
The council says the route should be complete by July 2003.
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