The government is to pay £9 million towards the cost of rebuilding a section of the A259 coast road and the supporting seafront arches in Brighton.
The Department for Transport (DfT) said that the scheme would “provide essential reconstruction of a primary highway structure constructed circa 1880”.
The DfT added: “This structure helps support the A259 which carries 36,000 vehicles a day, 30,000 pedestrians a day and the National Cycle Route 2 (2,500 cyclists a day).”
It will also enable Brighton and Hove City Council to rebuild the old shelter hall, more recently used as the Riptide Gym.
The hall is currently held up with a complex scaffold costing the council £100,000 a year.
And the stretch of King’s Road above – by the corner of West Street – collapsed during work on the Fortune of War pub in one of the arches below.
Councillor Ian Davey, the Green administration’s lead member on transport, said: “This is great news for the ongoing regeneration of the seafront and a real boost for the city.
“This £9 million is probably the biggest single financial award for transport that Brighton and Hove has ever received.
“It will allow us to reconstruct the derelict Victorian former shelter hall that sits underneath the seafront / West Street junction.
“In addition it will allow this busy junction to be remodelled to help traffic flow better.
“It will also provide a great new seafront business location on the popular lower promenade.
“This much-needed cash injection follows on from the £7 million plus that we have already invested in reconstruction of the arches around the i360 site and proves that where we have the confidence and vision to invest, more will follow.”
The £9 million is part of a £275 million allocation announced by the Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin today (Tuesday 24 March).
He spelt out how the £275 million Challenge Fund would be used for one-off major infrastructure schemes by local authorities to improve life for local residents and businesses.
Mr McLoughlin said: “Good-quality local roads are essential for people to get on with their daily business and today’s announcement will provide extra capacity where it is needed most.
“This government has put record funding in place for local roads as part of our long-term economic plan to improve journeys, create jobs and drive economic growth.”
The DfT said that the money announced today was part of the £6 billion funding for local road maintenance announced in December.
The latest funding was awarded after a bidding process involving councils with the winners said to have put forward the strongest case.
Well that’s very generous of them 🙂
I was going to quibble with the “2,500 cyclists a day” statistic, but actually when you work it out that’s about 2 a minute (assuming they’re not all going at 3am) which sounds vaguely plausible.