Roadworks to prepare for opening of Chichester Free School's new home

The project, which will be carried out by contractors on behalf of the Department for Education, will provide a right-turn lane access to the school, which is just south of the A27 Whyke roundabout.

Two bus laybys, cycle facilities and a toucan crossing will also be built and there will be a ‘school safe zone’ with a speed limit reduction in Hunston Road, from 50mph to 40mph.

This will be reduced to 30mph during school drop-off and pick-up times.

A new shared-use cycleway will be built to connect the new school to the existing A27 shared-use cycle facilities.

The works are set to start on Monday June 11 and are expected to last 14 weeks.

A temporary, 30mph speed restriction will be in place from Monday June 4 for the duration of the project. The restriction starts a week early to allow the contractor to carry out preliminary works, including setting up a compound.

A West Sussex County Council spokesman said: “Unfortunately the Department for Education has only just been able to appoint a contractor to carry out the works as the planning, designing and necessary consents have taken until now to put in place.

“We are aware that this is a very busy stretch of road but have been assured everything will be done to try to limit disruption as much as possible.

“The work will be mostly ‘off-line’ (off the carriageway itself), and there will be some evening and night-time working to try to complete the works at the earliest opportunity and avoid disruption to peak traffic as much as possible. However, there will be times when temporary traffic lights are essential for the safety of road users and the workforce.”

The project will be completed by Landbuild Ltd, on behalf of Farrans Construction, and is due to start on June 11.

It will take about 14 weeks, subject to factors such as extreme weather, and the usual hours of work will be 7.30am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday.

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