I’VE been visiting a restaurant and hotel called Crossways in East Sussex between Lewes and Polegate for more than 25 years.

The name comes from its position close to the Wilmington crossroads where two minor roads meet the A27.

Back in the 1980s I did not really notice the road much although even then it was fairly fast and busy.

But in my latest visit it was extremely tricky crossing the A27 for a pedestrian and I noticed drivers from the side roads often had long waits to find gaps.

There are other awkward junctions on this part of the A27 which has fast flowing traffic along a single carriageway road.

Only at Beddingham, where there is a newish junction with the A26, and the Alfriston turn which has a roundabout is crossing the road civilised.

The A27 is the main east/west route across Sussex, running from Portsmouth on a motorway and ending as a much smaller road past Pevensey.

It is amazing to think that all traffic on the A27 used to trundle over the wooden toll bridge, now a historic monument, at Shoreham until the Adur flyover was built.

At Lewes until the 1970s, everything used to pass through the narrow high street where there are still lights controlling one-way traffic.

Gradually over the years much of the A27 has become a dual carriageway.

Bypasses have been built of Chichester, Arundel, Brighton, Pevensey and Polegate.

But there is now so much traffic that bypasses are needed of the bypasses in Arundel and Chichester.

Every day there are serious hold ups on the A27 between Shoreham and Lancing and between Falmer and Lewes.

The traffic is usually particularly heavy around Worthing where the road passes through a residential area and close to the Lyons Farm retail shopping outlet.

Now there is a campaign for measures to be taken so that the A27 is a dual carriageway for its whole length. The Government is also asking people for their views.

Drivers who use the road daily are fed up with the constant hold-ups and the dangerous sections of single carriageway road.

But conservationists argue that nothing like a mini motorway should be built so close to the South Downs national park and that more people should use the railway.

The case for a Worthing bypass has been debated for many years and so far the plans have been defeated.

One reason is that the only feasible alternative is to build a new road through a precious part of the Downs near Cissbury Ring.

At Arundel, a bigger bypass would relieve the jams but cause tremendous environmental damage near a historic town and beautiful river.

You have only to look at parts of the road which have been widened such as at Clapham to see how ugly an eyesore a dual carriageway would be between Lewes and Polegate.

There are solutions to some of these problems. At Chichester priority could be given to through traffic. At Arundel the road could be landscaped so that nothing like the horror of the Adur Flyover was built.

At Worthing tunnels could be built in the most sensitive areas and the new road east of Lewes could be screened so that it was barely visible from the Downs.

But I do have some sympathy with those who oppose making the A27 a super highway. The wide road would urbanise vast swatches of countryside. It would encourage an increase in traffic.

The east and west coastway railway lines provide a reasonable public transport alternative for the whole length of the A27. They also have some spare capacity.

On the A259, Stagecoach has shown with its 700 service from Brighton to Southsea, and Brighton and Hove with route 12 buses – from the city to Eastbourne – how it is possible to run a ten-minute daytime service and attract many more passengers than in the past.

It might be possible for an enterprising bus company to run a fast service along the whole length of the A27 providing competition for the trains and an attractive alternative for many motorists.

If the road is not dualled, and I can’t see that happening for many years if at all, urgent safety improvements are needed at the most dangerous places.

I hope the next time I go to Crossways that crossing points will have been provided for pedestrians and that drivers on the main road will be forced to slow down at the junctions.