Detailed plans to rejig the layout of the A23 alongside Preston Park have been unveiled.
The plans include a new cycle lane and pedestrian crossings south of Preston Park, a new stepped cycle track running past Preston Park, new floating bus stops at Preston Drove and changes to traffic lights at South Road and Preston Drove.
Some cycle lanes will be widened and some general traffic lanes will be narrowed, but no general traffic lanes will be removed, other than between Argyle Road and Springfield Road, where two lanes will reduce to one.
The detailed drawings are also available on the council website here.
Brighton and Hove City Council is holding a series of drop-in sessions where the plans can be seen in detail at St Augustine’s in Stanford Avenue this week.
Residents can also email their comments to transport.projects@brighton-hove.gov.uk, or call 01273 293536 and leave a message.
The designs will then be revised according to feedback, and presented to the council’s environment, transport and sustainability committee for final approval next spring.
Two more phases of A23 improvements, continuing north to Patcham roundabout, will also undergo the same process.
Amy Heley, co-chair of the committee, said: “We’re working extremely hard to make travel and transport across the city safer and more sustainable for everyone and the A23 is a key part of that.
“Only by creating an infrastructure that better supports walking and cycling will we give residents and visitors the opportunity to make sustainable travel choices that will help us reach our goal of carbon neutrality by 2030.
“The A23 is a key travel corridor for getting in and out of the city and I would urge all residents in the area to have their say on the proposals.”
The sessions will be held at these times:
- Wednesday 1 December 2021 – 9am-5pm
- Thursday 2 December 2021 – 9am-5pm
- Friday 3 December 2021 – 9am-5pm
- Saturday 4 December 2021 – 9am-5pm
Given the mess they’ve made of Lewes Road, and how much displaced traffic clogs up places like Woodingdean, I’m not filled with confidence.
Just that tiny bit of single lane between Argyle and Springfield will cause chaos at the weekends – bottlenecking tourist traffic with local traffic.
That’s the plan: artificially engineer congestion and the resulting pollution to justify more draconian measures.
The Climate Assembly can see why a park and ride will help all those who drive because they don’t come in from places well served by public transport. Shame the Greens can’t.
They should be removing the parking on Preston Road between Preston Circus & Preston Park and widening the pavement further. The pavement is so very very narrow on the eastern side it is not being widened further. So many times I’ve walked down that road I’ve ended up in the road avoiding a runner, someone with their dog or a million and pieces of pavement clutter.
Don’t get me wrong, this is a huge improvement, but why sacrifice the wellbeing of the thousands of people who walk, cycle and wait for buses on that short stretch, for the sake of 30 parking places in an area that has no waiting list.
Those parking spaces help support the few remaining businesses along that bit of the road. Sounds like the runners along there are as considerate as the cyclists and mad scooterists! There’s a huge park for walking, running and other sports and a velodrome for cycling so close, without the need to force people off of the pavement and into the road.
Businesses do much better without heavy traffic in front of them. Improving the area to walk and cycle increases footfall. Look how popular the pedestrianised areas of Brighton are and those where pavements have increased in size (Valley Gardens / St Peter’s church)
In terms of the runners, cyclists, dog owners this route is their only option to get to the park; it is a serious pinch point, especially around the railway arches. We need to prioritise people, their safety, their wellbeing over storage space.
I agree that well thought out space reallocation, prioritising away from cars is without doubt, a good thing. But to say that businesses do better without parking available is complete horse.
Fantastic to see more cycle lanes and less car centric cities, less pollution and smog and healthier more sustainable transport
More stationary traffic = more pollution.
Where will all the cars go? There is no extra public transport being laid on for those who commute in and out via the A23. Few people choose to drive into Brighton in the rush hour unless they need to. And eventually the tourists and shoppers will drive somewhere else. My neighbour regularly drives from Hove to Holmbush, Worthing, Crawley and Bluewater rather than into Brighton, not least because of the exhorbitant cost of parking.
Why doesn’t your neighbour get a bus or walk from Hove?
Have Ms Heley and her cronies learnt nothing at all from the chaotic mess they made of Old Shoreham Road. Have they already forgotten what an expensive and wasteful disaster that turned out to be? They should be hanging their heads in shame, instead of perpetuating their crazy unworkable ideas that are turning Brighton and Hove into a no-go area for businesses or visitors. The sooner they get kicked out the better.
What’s wrong with the cycle section on the pavement? It accommodates those without lights quite well.
Not enough room for Amy to peddle.
It must be wider for her.
Northbound bit of cycle lane on A23 between South Road lights and Preston Drove, (which is painted full bright red with solid line traffic demarcation and on a double yellow line, also with clear “no loading at any time” signposts and road markings), is a death trap for cyclists much of the daytime. This being mainly due to cars and vans often parked up illegally, completely obstructing the cycle lane, to get coffee from coffee shops there. This forces cyclists out into the main road between the two major junctions. Moving traffic on that short stretch creates a precarious situation as a lot of vehicles speed through the junctions to catch the lights while they’re still green at each junction, and to try to beat each other the merge further up by Sainsbury’s. Also, speed around the corner from South Road after being frustrated by other drivers holding them up a few seconds by not noticing the left-turn filter… and/or the diabolically positioned Shell Garage entrance/exits. Also changing across three lanes to turn right up Preston Drove, and some pulling out of Middle Road at speed to try fit into a gap, and hoping for the best while blinded to the traffic mayhem due to parked up “coffee parking” to their right….. and beer delivery lorries completely flouting all road rules there outside the two pubs to deliver kegs.
Just saying.
Yep. Why stop the business of the city for a few cyclists every now and again.
Get things in dogma-order for the Greenies.
Why they feel the need to put a cycle lane on the road with the traffic when there is a park with a tarmack unused road in, which would be a much nicer route is beyond me.
As for removing traffic lanes in one of the busiest traffic hotspots, that surely should be put to public vote as this was not in any of the last manifestos and will cause far worse traffic. If I lived in surrenden crescent or varndeen Road I’d be very unhappy with this proposal.
Equally with increased traffic from these schemes surly families of people who don’t make it to hospital in the back an ambulance using this route should be able to sue the council for gross misconduct.
Why can’t they just come up with 1 vision for the entire road network and let people vote on it, why is that so hard to do. You know, democracy
I just looked at the plans lol they are worse than I thought. Removing the layby bus stop by shell south bound… Some dangerous overtaking will now happen and tbh that’s well dangerous having cycle lanes running in between bus stops and the buses, why not set the cycle lanes around the back of the bus stops? As for the single lane northbound at the viaduct, on what planet does that make sence, just remove the parking bays it’s a fairly major interchange. To work in Brighton transport must require no qualifications or logic. Baffles me. How does creating traffic jams lower pollution and get people on bikes?
When did this council ever care about democracy? Right from the start these clowns have blundered on and on, making crazy decisions, without consulting the ratepayers, who will soon be asked to pay even more in council tax, to cover their mistakes, for which – and this beggars belief – one of them is being given an award.