A259

A259

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From:

Folkestone (TR210376)

To:

Havant (SU729060)

Length:

120 miles (193.1 km)

Meets:

M20, A20, A21, A22, A23, A24, A26, A27, A29, A2070

Former Number(s):

A27, A260, A294, B259, B2143

Now part of:

A260, A2033, B2011, B2191

Primary Destinations

Bognor Regis • Brighton • Chichester • Eastbourne • Folkestone • Hastings • Newhaven • Worthing •

Highways Authorities

Highways Agency • Brighton & Hove • East Sussex • Hampshire • Kent • West Sussex

Traditional Counties

Hampshire • Kent • Sussex

Route outline (key)

A259	Dover - Folkestone
A259	Folkestone (M20) - Folkestone (A2034)
A259	Folkestone (A2034) - Pevensey
A259	Pevensey - Bognor Regis
A259	Bognor Regis - A27 Chichester Bypass
A259	Chichester Bypass - Havant

This one makes up in length what the other A25xs lack. It starts in Folkestone, heads along the coast through Hythe, Romney and over the Sussex border to Rye. Then goes via Hastings, Eastbourne, Brighton, Worthing, Bognor, Chichester and finally ends at Havant. From Pevensey to Havant the route is effectively shadowing the A27, only going through more towns and sticking closer to the coast. The A259 forms part of the South Coast Trunk Route. The Brenzett - Pevensey section is still a trunk road (apart from through Hastings), but the section west of that is non-trunk and non-primary as the A27 is a better road.

Route

Section 1: Folkestone - Brenzett

A259, High Steet, New Romney

From M20 junction 13, the A259 skirts the North Downs heading east, initially non-primary. It then descends via the suburbs into Folkestone. The route becomes primary at the A2034. After numerous TOTSOs avoiding the town centre, the road eventually descends steeply to Sandgate, which has a single main street lined with antique shops. The A259 surrenders its white lines and narrows here before running along the sea-wall to Seabrook and on into Hythe, where there's a little one-way system. The suburbs continue as the road ventures out into Romney Marsh with MOD land to the left. Soon it is back beside the sea-wall and caravan parks dominate the scene all the way through Dymchurch (which has a busy high street, arcades and a fun fair) to St Mary's Bay. Things become open and straight for a mile and there is a bridge over the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway.

Then comes New Romney. A259 forms the High Street. The road begins to act more like a primary route beyond this town, streaking inland to Brenzett across the totally flat grazing land up to meet the A2070 at a roundabout, along with Brenzett school and a service area.

Section 2: Brenzett - Pevensey

A259, Hairpin at Winchelsea

From here until Pevensey, the A259 is mainly a trunk road, despite being predominantly single carriageway with plenty of twists and turns.

Bearing left at the roundabout, our road passes over a level crossing, then heads around Brookland on a single carriageway bypass. After this, there's a 90 degree bend by the Woolack pub, then another, even more severe 90 degree bend at Guldeford Lane Corner where the road crosses Kent Ditch to enter East Sussex. There are then two more level crossings to navigate before the road becomes straight. Rye then appears on the horizon heading straight, having a junction with the A268 and then into the town before humbly passing by the Victorian terraces around the centre. It feels a little claustrophobic as it hugs the bottom of the hill that the town is constructed on. There's then a run out to flat land on the old Military road up to the much smaller hilltop town of Winchelsea - England's first new town, laid out in grid formation many centuries ago.

There is a sudden hairpin north of Winchelsea (recall this is still a trunk road), a very steep climb and soon the road is on the 'straight and wide' again until Icklesham village. More corners and more pinch-points to Guestling until the sustained climb to Ore which has had its crawler lane all but stamped out. And then comes another fifteen miles of suburbs, and a loss of trunk status until the other side of Bexhill. There is just a gap, with no alternative trunk road filling it. The road descends to Hastings and runs along the hotel-lined seafront. The A21 currently starts around here, unceremoniously at an uncontrolled T-junction. This is the first major road the A259 has met since Folkestone. The A259 continues along the seafront to St. Leonards. Then it heads inland to Bulverhythe, past the out-of-town complex and straight into Bexhill, by-passing the centre with a brief dual carriageway, the first section of dual carriageway that the road has had.

When it finally emerges, having met a number of classified roads, most notably the A269, the road descends in a sweep to Pevensey Level. It is straight and tree-lined until the roundabout where the A27 starts.

Section 3: Pevensey - Worthing

Roundabout at junction of A23 and A259

The A259 heads south at the roundabout with the A27, heading straight on to Pevensey Bay and the sea. Pevensey Bay has a brief one-way system. The road heads straight for the suburbs into Eastbourne with a brief dual carriageway section. The new A22 starts about a mile north from here, linked by the mile long [A2290]. There is a one-way system around the centre of Eastbourne which then leads to the old start of the A22, now the A2270. The road continues up the South Downs with woods on one side. The scenery is superb; with picturesque East Dean neatly assembled across one of the hillsides, then a long drop to the single lane bridge over the meandering Cuckmere River. Then there is a climb into Seaford.

Right through the middle of Seaford, the road climbs again and descends with crawler to the next river valley and Newhaven. Here the A26 is met, which gets a GSJ, though more for reasons of geography that importance. Immediately after this there is a swing bridge over the River Ouse which heads into a one-way system around the centre of Newhaven. It then heads out towards Peacehaven. For about three miles here, the road is named 'South Coast Road', a name which appears on the direction signs in some of the side streets. Between Peacehaven and Rottingdean, the road takes a rollercoaster ride of hills along the clifftops, sticking rigidly to the coast. Entering Brighton the road widens to four-lane single carriageway making a green and graceful entry to one of our newest cities. A GSJ is just about formed outside the marina; built within the clifftops including a couple of tunnels. Tall flat-blocks dominate the horizon. Soon the road descends, still as an S4, to the seafront, meeting the start of the A23 at a surprisingly small roundabout.

The A259 continues to pass through Brighton as a mixture of S4 and wide S2. Hove is then reached and the sea disappears from view for a while. Shortly after this the road turns inland very slightly to be on the north side of Portslade and Shoreham Harbour. The River Adur outflow appears on the left at the lighthouse and lifeboat station. From here the road travels along the north bank of the Adur, and through Shoreham High Street to meet the A283 at a roundabout. The A259 the crosses the river at Norfolk Bridge. Shoreham Beach can now be accessed via a large roundabout which also serves Shoreham Airport away to the north. The A259 soon finds the coast at its left again and follows it through Lancing and into Worthing.

Section 4: Worthing - Bognor Regis

A259 Littlehampton Road, Ferring

The road passes through the town centre, heading north for a moment with a dualled section, then heading south at the roundabout that starts the A24 to some traffic lights before heading west again. It then continues through the suburbs to Goring-by-Sea. Here it turns north for quarter of a mile to become a dual carriageway. There is a TOTSO left at a roundabout with the (defucnt) A2700 and A2032 and then heads west still as a dual carriageway, but with one lane painted out for about half a mile westbound to allow for the driveways of the adjacent houses. After meeting the A280 at a roundabout, the road is once again single carriageway, until the start of the Rustington bypass, one of only two NSL D2 sections on the entire 120 mile route. Another couple of roundabouts, one meeting the A284 and the road bypasses Littlehampton as an S2, before hearding over the River Arun.

Less importance is granted beyond the river Arun. It meanders inland on its way to Felpham and Bognor Regis. Once at Bognor the modern A259 doesn't head for the centre, but rather runs through the suburbs to North Bersted having another short section of D2 over the railway line. The A29 is then met at a roundabout. Primary status is then gained.

Section 5: Bognor Regis - Havant

The road now heads north west, out through North Bersted before picking up a second carriageway just outside Chichester at a roundabout with the B2144. It then meets the A27 at a roundabout and loses its primary status. Continuing straight on the A259 heads into Chichester to meet, and mulitplex, with the A286 along the Chichester ring road. It leaves the A286 at a roundabout, and heads along Via Ravenna, gaining a surprising NSL speed limit before heading briefly south over the railway line to meet the A27 again at the Fishbourne Roundabout. From here it follows the old A27 through Broadbridge where it meets the B2146 at a roundabout. It then continues through Nutbourne and Southbourne to Emsworth with a roundabout at the B2148. It then meets the A27 once again, this time at a GSJ at the start of the Havant bypass.

History

Dover - Pevensey

Originally the A259 started in Dover, with that part of the road now being the B2011, having likely been the A20 before it was upgraded. Largely unimproved, save the odd realignment, notably at Brookland and west of Bexhill. Formerly trunk from Folkestone to Brenzett, now replaced by the A2070 to Ashford. The section through Hastings was also formerly a trunk road.

Pevensey - Worthing

Used to run through Pevensey on what is now the B2191 and B2104. At Eastbourne the road formerly ran through the town centre along Terminus Road. Then unimproved to Seaford, where the Buckle Bypass replaces the route along Claremont Road and Marine Parade. The bridge, GSJ and one way system at Newhaven replace the route through the town centre, now pedestrianised. A short section east of Brighton used to run on the B2118 and B2137 before being replaced with new build.

At classification in 1922 the road was Class II status (as the B259) from the junction with Upperton Road (then the A22) to the junction with Lewes Road in Newhaven (then the A275). The road then ran as far as the original endpoint of the A24 in Worthing, with the B2143 continuing to Bognor.

Worthing - Littlehampton

The most improved section of the route. From High Street, Worthing, the route used to run down Warwick Street and up Chapel Road to Richmond Road. New railway bridge at Goring, previously ran across the level crossing. From the current A280 junction the modern road takes a completely different route until the west of Littlehampton. Original route is now the B2140, B2187 to High Street Littlehampton, then across the old toll bridge and along Ferry Road and Crookthorne Lane, meeting the modern route at Climping. The Rustington and Littlehampton bypasses were built in the 1990s, Roundstone bypass was earlier. The road was also rerouted in Littlehampton before the building of the bypass.

Littlehampton - Havant

Some realignments and corner cutting to Felpham, where Felpham way is new build. Felpham Road and Upper Bognor Road form old route. Route formerly ended in Bogner, with the A294 forming the road to Chichester. Route from Chichester Ring Road to A27 is new build. From Fishbourne Roundabout to Havant the modern road follows the old route of the A27.

Future

Folkstone - Pevensey

Plans for upgrades to almost continuous D2 from M20 J11 to the A27 at Pevensey were in the pipeline until the mid 1990s, including a bypass of Hastings and all the other major towns on this section. The only part of any of these grand plans that were built is M20 J11 itself, an important looking junction serving nowhere in particular. There are currently plans for a Bexhill to Hastings link road, though whether this is part of the A259 is unclear.

Pevensey - Havant

Plans have existed in the past for major upgrades at Shoreham and Worthing, though very little saw the light of day. There has also been talk of dualling the Roundstone bypass, as it sits between two sections of dual carriageway and has plenty of room left for this. The most major plans on the route are at Bognor, where a bypass/relief road is to be built from Flansham, across to the A29 and then along to north of North Bersted. Also in the current plans for the Chichester Bypass, both the A259s junctions will be grade separated.