NCN20

NCN20 runs south from the River thames atWandsworth, London to the south coast at Brighton where it meets NCN2. The vast majority of the route is paved, however parts run on old pavements that do have a rough surface, so are unsuitable for road bikes in places. Between Crawley and Pyecombe the route was removed in July 2020 due to having some undesirable crossings of some slip roads on the A23, as well as using some fairly busy B roads in places (B2118 & B2114), as such there is no official cycle route connecting London and Brighton, however the cycle infrastructure here remains and is adequate.

Route

Tilgate - Pyecombe

Route was removed in July 2020 due to not being of high enough quality. This is mostly due to some uncontrolled crossings of A23 slip roads and busy B roads for parts of the route. The route followed the A23, either using a dedicated cycle track beside the dual carriageway, or by utilizing old parts of the A23 such as the B2118 and B2114.

History

2014 A23 Handcross - Warninglid Widening (No longer part of the cycle network since July 2020)

Handcross - Warninglid Widening took place in 2014 on the A23. Previous to this the A23 between Handcross Junction and Warninglid Junction didn't have any provision for NMUs, so when the route was chosen for the NCN20 it was routed along the B2114 to Staplefield (fairly busy, moderate steepness, S2) then along Staplefield Lane (low traffic, low quality surface, narrow S2) to Warninglid Junction NCN would then pass over the A23 on the B2115 to join a cyclepath adjacent to the Northbound carriageway. The works included a high quality NMUs path alongside the whole of the A23 between the two junctions, however the southernmost section runs on a new service road. This new path is three metres wide, and features road markings and signage due to high-speed travel on the steep incline around 10% for a sustained period of the way. Most signage still shows the old route, however the majority of cyclists follow the new unsigned route.

July 2020

Much of the cycle route was reclassified from the NCN. This was the section between Crawley and Pyecombe, which was mostly a dedicated cycle track next to the A23, or uses the old alignments of the A23. It is likely that the route will fill this gap again, once the dangerous parts have proper provisions, this may be possible if the A23 becomes an expressway, as an alternative route for NMU will have to be provided.

August 2020

On completion of the Valley Gardens Phase 1&2 the Cycle route through the gardens has been rebuilt and segregated from pedestrians (except at junctions). The new A23 road layout has also improved interactions between the cycle track and the roads.

2021

As part of Brighton & Hove's second Active Travel schemes, it is proposed to greatly improve the route from Preston Circus to Patcham Roundabout. This is likely to involve removing all cycle lanes from the pavement and relocating road spaces to provide for dedicated segregated cycle tracks as well as improving some junctions. The scheme is likely to be constructed during Q3/Q4 of 2021. As part of the Valley Gardens phase 3, the Cycle route will change through Old Stein onto a better more-direct segregated cycle track. This is due to be constructed at the end of 2021/start of 2022

Links

Sustrans