A27 Polegate to Lewes plans from 1993

[GeekyJames]

I've been visiting the site for a while and recently came accross the Department for Transports plan for the new A27 between Polegate and Lewes which I believe were published in 1993 and thought they would be of interest to sabre members! A whole new D2 road was planned from Southerham at the end of the Lewes bypass to join the Polegate bypass (apart from the widening of the Firle straight, where a local access road would have been built)

I've attached the plans and text from the DoT. I've also found the plans for the Polegate bypass if anyone would like these uploaded!

Thanks, James

[GeekyJames]

The rest of the plans and DOT information on the proposals

[Truvelo]

What an excellent find. Now it becomes clear why there's flaring at the western end of the Polegate Bypass - the roundabout was used from the 1993 plan. The only difference is there's deflection on the approach which is smoother on the 1993 map.

I'd like to see the Polegate Bypass plans as well. Let's see how much the current road has been cut down from the 1993 version

[AJK1982]

Certainly a great find, thank you. If only this had been built! It would have left the Ashcombe roundabout at the other end of the Lewes bypass as the only at grade junction between Polegate and Shoreham, and I suspect there were plans to grade separate that. What did we get instead? S2+1 widening and a bridge over the railway line (and traffic lights at the Ashcombe roundabout further along).

There are unbuilt schemes all along the south coast and I may very well have to find the time to get to Worthing library to see if they have any plans for the Worthing bypass. I know there were various public consultation documents, I remember seeing them and going to the exhibition as a child.

I was particularly intrigued by the Southerham junction, not easy to grade-separate it within the geographical confines of the river, railway and hill. Earlier plans for the Lewes bypass had the A26 crossing the Ouse and meeting the A27 to the east of the river at a trumpet. The version in these plans looks very similar to the A27/A23 junction.

Wasn't it this road scheme that led anti-road protesters to place a large pair of white y-fronts on the Long Man of Wilmington?

[SarahJ]

I see it was planned for long distance traffic only which is a bit bizzare. These days places like Drusillas are quite a big traffic generator so the removal of the junction at Berwick would have caused issues it it had been built.

As for southerham, there is space next to railway line under the road to turn that junction today into a GSJ. Some of the slips might be tight, but it could be done.

SJ

[M19]

If I remember correctly proposals for different bypasses along the A27 were accused by opponents to represent a stealth south coast motorway, and I think this points to a major issue with UK road planning. That is there seems to be a lack of transparency from a stratgic perspective about the role of routes such as the A27 and how they should perform in future.

Now i'm not local to the area, but I have used the A27. I dare say it would play a role as being a route that would provide a good alternative to long distance traffic having to migrate up to the M20, M25, M3 and the M4 for east west movements - something which in itself eats up capacity on already strained routes. Because this kind of vision gets lost schemes that do and will make it to the construction stage, whenever that will be, will tend to be watered down. As a string of bypasses, which may be ok for local traffic becomes more attractive to longer distance traffic that perceive it to be a good alternative, it will be no surprise that congestion will happen. Indeed congestion does already take place on the more inadequate stretches of the network. Of course this then leads to the classic cliche from anti-road groups that the new bypasses fill up with traffic. True but only because the routes were not planned strategically and then become overwhelmed with a mix of local and stratgic traffic.

From the outset, there needs to be an in-principle agreement that the route will have a strategic function - a key argument to justify developing schemes in more detail and avoid accusations of stealth road planning.

[Truvelo]

There definitely needs to be a south coast trunk road of a decent quality. Whether it's a GSJ'd D2 or a full blown motorway it doesn't matter but the current road where it alternates between the M27 and village streets is a joke. A couple of years ago on one of my trips to Germany I had to pick someone up in Bournemouth then head to the Channel Tunnel. The only decent route was M3-M25-M26-M20. Going the direct way via A27-A259 would have taken forever. Even with the queue on the M25 it's still quicker than the A27. Unless your journey starts or finishes somewhere between Chichester and Hastings the M25 is quicker every time.

[Fluid Dynamics]

Great find.

I seem to recall that at some point this scheme included an associated improvement to the A26 towards Newhaven.

What an excellent find. Now it becomes clear why there's flaring at the western end of the Polegate Bypass - the roundabout was used from the 1993 plan. The only difference is there's deflection on the approach which is smoother on the 1993 map.

I'd like to see the Polegate Bypass plans as well. Let's see how much the current road has been cut down from the 1993 version

There have until recently been proposals to "complete" in some form the Polegate bypass on the back of a major housing development to the north west of Polegate. As far as I remember the scheme included completing the A27/A22 junction by GSJing the A27. The A27 would continue westward as dual until an intermediate at grade roundabout providing access to the development, continuing as a single carriageway over the railway to meet the existing A27. So far the people of Polegate have successfully campaigned against the housing development and as such the road scheme has not progressed.

The Wealden DC local plan also included reserved routes for smaller scale A27 bypasses of Wilmington and Selmeston and included some conversation of the route in relation to the boundary of the South Down National Park.

Now if anyone can find the plans for the Bexhill and Hastings and the Wichelsea and Rye Bypasses that would be great. I know that the borehole surveys for Rye have been carried out, but would love to learn more about the tunnel proposal.

Quote from Wichelsea Town Plan

The most recent attempt to deal with these problems was in 1995/96 when the Department of Transport proposed the redevelopment of the Guestling Thorne to Brenzett section of the A259, including a by-pass for Icklesham, a tunnel under Winchelsea Hill, and a new crossing of the Rother between Rye and Rye Harbour. Considerable public opposition and a number of proposals for alternative routes caused this initiative to collapse.
The Brede Valley is within the High Weald AONB and runs across the proposed line of the 1995 east-west coastal route. The construction of an Eastern Hastings Bypass would have a negative impact on the Brede Valley and would pose the question as to what would happen to traffic at the eastern end of the bypass (thought to be in the area of Guestling Thorne). There is no current proposal to deal with this traffic.
However given that the existing A259 east of Hastings cannot be improved to strategic trunk road standard without unacceptable environmental economic and social damage, an alternative east-west route has been proposed by various NGOs to the north of the existing flood plain, linking the M20 with the A21, which is scheduled for improvement. The aim of this new road corridor would be to link the coastal centres of Brighton, Lewes and Eastbourne with Ashford in a more direct corridor, well inland of the current A259.

[GeekyJames]

I've scanned the plans for the Polegate bypass which is pretty much what was built. I'm not sure what chance there is for future improvements along this stretch of A27, I've read about plans for improvements at the Wilmington junction but havn't seen any plans for this. There has also talk of building the Folkingotn link, continuing along from the Polegate bypass at the Cophall roundabout however only part of this would be dual carriageway and is linked to a new housing development.

[AJK1982]

With regards the Folkington link, I believe it won't now go ahead as the housing development that it was meant to serve isn't happening. Probably for the best, it sounded a bit half-baked from what I had seen.

[Berk]

It's a shame these proposals aren't being reheated and served up again. Although the Southerham-Beddingham stretch was improved 10 years ago, and up to a reasonable standard westbound, it can still be very slow going eastbound, or on the unimproved bits.

I can't believe the Beddingham improvements were so cheap - 'only' £19m, that's quite good value these days.