Roadworks cause 'total chaos' in Worthing, Lancing and Shoreham - 'It’s a nightmare and I’m sick of it'

SussexWorld asked its Worthing Herald Facebook readers to share their experiences of the ongoing roadworks and temporary traffic lights in Adur and Worthing – and had dozens of responses.

Rachel Smith said the traffic is ‘dreadful every morning’, adding: “The A27 needs to be at least [a] duel carriageway all the way from Chichester to Brighton. God only knows how bad it will get once all these housing developments get finished! And don’t get even me started on the Washington roundabout!”

Nicola Bowles, who has to drive from Worthing to Shoreham for work, said her journey is a ‘nightmare’.

Lorna Atkins said she faced a ‘ridiculous’ two-and-a-half-hour drive from Ferring to Brighton last week, adding: “I felt like abandoning the car and get the train.”

Ben Hansford said the situation is a ‘nightmare and I’m sick of it’ adding: “'It took me one hour ten minutes for me to get to Portslade today for work only seven miles away. The sewage works on the A259 Lancing never seem to never get resolved and keep coming back! I dream of working from home everyday currently rather than face the commute.”

Trudi Starling described the situation as ‘absolutely horrendous’, adding: “Traffic eastbound this [Monday] morning was queueing from Offington Corner roundabout all the ways to Sainsbury's Lyons Farm and beyond. Absolutely no coordination whatsoever and no consideration for anyone.”

Jayne Melhuish shared a similar view. She said the traffic was ‘chaos’ last Monday morning, adding: “To have roadworks on all the major routes just seems like bad planning. You can’t avoid them, wherever you go.”

Sarah Crompton said the ‘chaos’ at Lyons Farm lights ‘seems to have gone on forever’, whilst the Nicky Hellard argued that the situation, especially on the A27, is ‘getting worse and worse’.

Angela Stebbings wrote: “Too many roadworks with temporary lights all going on at the same time causing chaos.”

Freelance photographer Eddie Mitchell took to Twitter to air his concerns: “Multiple stop/starts Worthing, Lancing, Shoreham, Portslade, Lyons Farm, total chaos all morning.”

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How are A27 works progressing?

Temporary traffic signals remain in place at Lyons Farm retail park in Worthing.

These works, led by National Highways, started in November last year. The aim at that time was to have it finished by August this year, according to South East route manager Peter Phillips.

Having ‘encountered a lot of problems’, the aim now is to complete the works by Christmas.

Works in Findon and Shoreham ‘will provide long-term benefits’

Meanwhile, West Sussex Highways has ‘two active travel initiatives’ in Findon and Shoreham-by-Sea.

A county council spokesperson said: “Every effort is being made to minimise disruption during the works and we apologise for any inconvenience or delays. These two projects will provide long-term benefits for both cyclists and pedestrians.”

A construction of a 2km-long shared cycleway/walkway route, connecting Findon Valley with the South Downs National Park gateway of Findon Village is ongoing.

The torrential rain has delayed the completion of the main works ‘slightly’ but they are currently forecast to end by Friday (November 25) – ‘subject to any further unforeseen circumstances’.

A council spokesperson said: “Single traffic lanes have been maintained on the dual carriageway A24 Findon Bypass for all construction works to date. Collaborative working between the various contractors involved have also meant that works previously planned to be done under temporary traffic lights have safely and successfully been completed maintaining two-way running traffic.

“For the safety of both the public and workforce, some carriageway surfacing and road marking works will require temporary traffic signals. These periods will be kept to a minimum and off-peak, where possible.”

The scheme on A283 Steyning Road in Shoreham, meanwhile, ‘will benefit the whole community’, according to the county council.

This will be done by providing a ‘safer crossing point’ for pedestrians and cyclists to access the river-side footway and cycleway – ‘improving access’ between St Nicolas Lane, the town centre, Shoreham Toll Bridge and the Downs Link.

"It will also improve connectivity for school children, such as those going to and from the Sir Robert Woodard Academy, and improve connectivity for a nearby business centre,” the spokesperson added.

"At first, two-way traffic lights were used for the safety of both the public and workforce. Unfortunately, shortly after their introduction, driver behaviour issues were observed at the mini-roundabout, including a significant in-balance in queue lengths between Upper Shoreham and Old Shoreham Road as traffic was not merging in turn.

"So as a further safety measure, three-way, manually-controlled lights had to be introduced to keep the traffic moving in turn from all three directions.

"Opportunities to remove the lights were taken over weekend periods to alleviate weekend traffic pressures, provided progress with the works meant it was safe to remove the temporary light control.”

The bus stop outside of the Red Lion public house had been out of use during the start of these works but the stop/start lights have now been removed.

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Where else are roadworks ongoing?

- Water main work on A27 Upper Brighton Road, near Lyons Farm retail park lights.

- Temporary traffic signals due to construction on Marine Drive both ways at Chelwood Avenue.

- Temporary traffic signals due to construction on Southdown View Road both ways at Dominion Way West.

- Temporary traffic signals due to water main work on A259 Brighton Road around The Broadway.

- Road closed due to gas main work on Fairview Road both ways between Mill Road and Firle Road.

- Emergency repairs on A283 Washington Road both ways between Water Lane and B2135 Horsham Road. Ongoing since Thursday, November 17 after a lorry fell into a ditch.

- The storm and foul water drainage works on Kingston Lane, Shoreham are part of a diversion route by Westridge Construction.

Victoria Road is closed between A259 Albion Street and Park Lane. Temporary traffic signals are in place at The Water Sports supply shop and on Grange Road.

Project manager Jake Noble said the works, which started at the beginning of October, are ‘going well’ but ‘not as well as they should have’.

"The section by Victoria Road – we had closed for two weeks initially,” he said. “The drain we were meant to connect onto was never there. We had to seek approval from Southern Water to change the route.

“At the moment, we are tarmacking on Wednesday (November 23), weather depending. We will be looking to switch it over to the south side of the road on Thursday.

“The rain has really come down and that slows work down. The challenging part has been to get it down to one Lane.

“It feels a pain for a lot of people but we’ve put a lot of work in to coordinate all the utility companies together. It feels a bit longer than it should have done.”