'Urgent' repairs on A27 cause major traffic delays

Barriers and temporary traffic lights appeared in Upper Brighton Road, Worthing, on Thursday morning (September 24).

Queues reached up to two miles during rush hour, with traffic impacted in both directions between Worthing and Lancing.

An AA Traffic News alert read: “Long delays due to emergency repairs on A27 Upper Brighton Road both ways near Beeches Avenue (Lyons Farm retail park). Congestion to Sompting, just over a mile, and two miles back past the Grove Lodge and Findon roundabouts, plus half an hour back through Findon.”

A spokesperson for Southern Water said: “Our teams are carrying out urgent work to replace three defective manhole covers and frames on Upper Brighton Road in Worthing.

“We apologise for any disruption this work may cause and thank customers and road users for their patience while these essential repairs are completed.”

Motorists also experienced delays on Tuesday (September 22) and Wednesday (September 23) when the westbound lane of the A27 was closed between Sompting and Lancing.

SGN confirmed this was to allow for ‘emergency repairs’ to its gas network.

An SGN spokesperson said: “We have completed emergency repairs to our gas network on the A27 Upper Brighton Road in Lancing. To do this safely, we have had to close a westbound lane along the A27.

“We are now working to reinstate the road surface as quickly and safely as possible and will need to keep the road closure in place to give the new surface time to set."