Cycle route to be extended

A SEAFRONT cycle route which allows riders to avoid the busy A259 Brighton Road is set to be extended in a £300,000 scheme.

West Sussex County Council is planning to start work on a new two-mile section of the south coast cycle route, between Western Road, Sompting, and West Beach Road, Shoreham, providing a continuous route for cyclists from Splash Point, in Worthing.

Work is expected to start this month after the council's rights of way committee decided on Monday to allow cycling along the existing footpath.

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Clive Williams, chairman of the Adur county local committee, said: "There will be tremendous benefits from this scheme, with people able to use it for everything from leisure to commuting to work by bike, instead of car."

At narrow areas and junctions with the path, red surfacing will warn all users of the need for caution. There will also be two short sections where cyclists will be asked to dismount, along busier areas of the route.

Lieutenant Colonel Tex Pemberton, West Sussex cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "The section from Splash Point to Western Road is well used and well understood by both cyclists and pedestrians, and we expect that the Western Road to West Beach section will work equally as well."

He said there would be some disruption to traffic when the footpath was widened, but the county council and its contractors would do their utmost to keep this to a minimum.