A busy Brighton road is due to close for five days next month, with traffic disruption expected and diversions planned while work takes place on new student flats.
Hollingdean Road, between the Vogue Gyratory and the railway bridge, is scheduled to shut all week from Monday 8 August.
The closure has been planned so that workers can remove a crane from a building site and instal electrical cables to a new student housing scheme there.
Westridge Construction is building homes for students at Holden Court, in Hollingdean Road.
The company said that Hollingdean Road would close at 9.30am on Monday 8 August and should reopen by 8pm on Friday 12 August.
A diversion has been planned to send drivers via Union Road by The Level although access for businesses, residents and pedestrians should remain open at all times.
People living in Freehold Terrace and Popes Folly should still be able to enter from the western end by the railway bridge and exit into Hollingdean Road near the Sainsbury’s supermarket.
Drivers wanting access to businesses in Hughes Road will come and go from the railway bridge end only.
Westridge said that it was sending letters to residents, warning them of traffic disruption, and that road signs warning of the closure would go up along the road from Monday (1 August).
The first students are expected to move into Holden Court in September with all the work on the site expected to be completed by Christmas.
Westridge Construction project manager Steve Goodall said: “We’ve thought it through and planned what we’re doing to minimise disruption for residents.
“We have joined together what would have been two road disruption activities, that is removing the crane and bringing in the electric service, into one closure.”
The company said that anyone in need of help or advice in relation to the work should call Westridge’s resident and business liaison number 07964 305878.
The signs on the road say will be closed for 2 weeks from 8th August. So which is it?
And why 2 weeks, or 5 days to remove a crane? That only takes a day surely? And something that could be done at the weekend?
The electricity cable could be done half the road at a time, which is standard. Yes, traffic lights required but not as disruptive
The official route is long. There are shorter more residential routes. Will be chaos for lots.
And what will happen to all the rubbish lorries to the Newhaven incinerator? Will they wait a week or two (is there capacity?) or will they use a longer and prohibited route?
I don’t understand why so long has been allowed by the council to this company. Other roadworks which are more complex have been done more quickly along the Lewes Road….
Nick
Can’t answer the date question but I might be able to answer the question of the crane.
Why five days.
Not sure how big this crane is but at a guess will be taken down in sections. It’s likely to take several hours to perform this task and have the transporter vehicle in place ready for loading. I vaguely remember there being two or three transport vehicles when it first arrived, of course that time they drove straight onto the site but unable to this time.
So probably will take a few days to dismantle it and probably a day as a safety net too. Only a guess.
Yet if I have delivery of a tonne bag of sand and a pallet of cement left kerbside for more than a couple of hours I have someone from the council come round and tell me to move it sharpish… one rule for some and another for others
This should be affordable housing not for lazy students who do nothing for Brighton economy
This is fully mental but actually highlights the fact that this city seriously needs to sort out another West – East Road. Viaduct Road should never have become 1 way. If you have ever had the misfortune of driving a HGV in Brighton you’ll understand how bad it is.
Genuinely don’t understand what the road planning team do. It sure isn’t plan the roads. They should put a road up from Moulsecoomb Station over to ditching road. Would take a lot of traffic out of the city center. But the greens seem to love vehicle pollution
What about affordable housing for families on benefits. Always students. They do nothing. I have to bring up 5 kids!
Kels
Why affordable housing for those on benefits, why can’t working families have the same?
So you have five to bring up, good for you, I have four and work and still need a house that is affordable.
I can’t work because of me bad leg. So I need affordable housing for me and my 5 kids. Try living off 2 grand a month from tight tories. Need Labour and more support money as brining up kids on my own the hardest job in world
Kels
I wasn’t implying you should be working, I was just saying affordable housing is needed for all.
Money is tight for all at the moment.
This will cause absolute bedlam. Most users of this route are not residents of the immediate area. It is one of the few East to West and vice versa routes for Brighton & Hove residents moving across the city. Not all of these residents will use the route daily. Signage will need to be very clear and give ample warning as lane positioning on Gyratory by Sainsbury’s (if have travelled North on Lewes Road) and Preston Drove at The Fiveways will be essential if you had been intending to use this route & need to follow diversion. Will the Traffic Light sequences along the diversion routes be changed to allow for the large increase in traffic travelling on it.
The recent closure of junctions at London Road/South Road/Millers Road was poorly signposted on approach routes (i.e. Preston Drove) so traffic committed to turning left onto London Road only then to find their route closed, where as turning right and then using alternatives routes was easier and less congested. I also saw a few illegal driving manoeuvre when cars were travelling in opposite direction & could not turn towards Brighton.
Does anyone actually properly assess the knock on impact on traffic of these things.
Julie
Ohh Julie, come on, some drivers can’t see a bright yellow box that is in front of them that goes flash flash when they speed past it so can’t expect them to see any road closed signs.
And no, nobody cares about the impact and things like changing lights to allow traffic to flow is beyond the thought process of the council who are only concerned about what’s happening in an American Court case.
Thanks for writing in about this disruption, hopefully we can answer a few of the recurring questions.
The duration will be for 5 days. From 9.30am on the 8th August to 8pm on the 12th. Our permit does not allow for weekend work or night work.
We have picked this week because it is in school holidays.
Within that 5 days we aim to get the crane out plus make a connection to the electric main in the road.
We have tried using traffic light roadworks in this part of the road previously and it does not work because it is so near to another busy set of traffic lights near Sainsburys and creates traffic jams.
We reviewed some other alternate routes, and all were narrower roads in residential areas, and this was considered not fair to either the road users or the residents.
We apologise for the disruption this causes to you.
We will try to notify as many as possible beforehand.
We will aim to get the work done in good time.