Temporary lights at Polegate crossroads stuck on red again

There were severe delays around Polegate this morning (January 25) as the temporary traffic lights at the crossroads were stuck on red at rush hour.
There has been traffic chaos on Eastbourne Road at its crossroads with Wannock Road and Polegate High Street after a crash took out the traffic lights controllerThere has been traffic chaos on Eastbourne Road at its crossroads with Wannock Road and Polegate High Street after a crash took out the traffic lights controller
There has been traffic chaos on Eastbourne Road at its crossroads with Wannock Road and Polegate High Street after a crash took out the traffic lights controller

Highways say an engineer was sent to deal with the problem which caused gridlock at Eastbourne Road and its junction with Wannock Road and Polegate High Street from around 8am.

A spokesperson said, “Thank you to the public who have been getting in contact with us about the temporary traffic lights in Polegate that are currently stuck on red.

Emergency services at the scene of the collision, photo by Dan JessupEmergency services at the scene of the collision, photo by Dan Jessup
Emergency services at the scene of the collision, photo by Dan Jessup
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“A Traffic Signal Engineer is on route now and to fix the fault. The traffic is going to be busy. Thanks.”

The lights were stuck on red on all approaches, but were fixed by around 10am.

But this is not the first time this has happened since a collision took out the regular traffic lights last week.

Motorists are being warned to expect continuing delays after a crash destroyed the traffic light controller on Tuesday (January 15).

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East Sussex Highways says there will be heavy traffic until the equipment can be replaced – which is not expected to happen until later this month or the start of February.

An East Sussex Highways spokesperson said, “This is a major road junction which carries a lot of traffic so unfortunately we are seeing disruption in this area and on surrounding roads.”

The controller that was damaged was ‘obsolete technology’ that is no longer available and contractors are building a new one and will need to replace the traffic light heads.

They said, “We’ve asked our contractor to put all other works on hold and focus on getting the lights up and running as quickly as possible.”

“In the meantime, we’d ask drivers to take into account potential delays when planning their journey, and to consider using alternative routes where possible.”