A2038
A2038 | |||||||
Location Map ( geo) | |||||||
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From: | Portslade (TQ265058) | ||||||
To: | Red Hill, BN3 (TQ284082) | ||||||
Via: | Hangleton | ||||||
Distance: | 2.1 miles (3.4 km) | ||||||
Meets: | A270, B2194, A2023, A27 | ||||||
Primary Destinations | |||||||
Highway Authorities | |||||||
Traditional Counties | |||||||
Route outline (key) | |||||||
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The A2038 was the original northwest bypass of Brighton.
The road starts at traffic lights on the A270 (former A27) on the edge of Portslade and heads vaguely northeastwards along Hangleton Road – the road zigzags somewhat. By the time it is heading almost due eastwards the A2038 has gained a central reservation. However, we're still in an urban area and so the road is basically D1, with plenty of space for on-road parking. There are a few gaps in the central reservation to serve side roads and there's even a mini-roundabout at one point.
The dual carriageway ends just before the A2023 comes in from the right as we descend into a shallow valley. We soon begin climbing again: our road is King George VI Drive (known locally as Snakey Hill) and there are houses to the right – though these front the similarly named, and parallel, King George VI Avenue – while to our left we now have open fields. A fairly stiff ascent soon brings us to the southern roundabout of a dumbbell interchange on the A27 northern bypass and the end of our route.
Before that bypass was built the A2038 continued ahead along the now-unclassified Mill Road, which soon drops away fairly steeply. It is a wide and largely straight road, betraying its former status. It closely parallels the south side of the A27 for a mile (although the two roads are largely invisible from each other) before squeezing beneath the London to Brighton railway line by means of a single-lane bridge bridge and reaching the original eastern end of the A2038, on the A23.