The A27 is the only east-west trunk road south of the M25, and provides access to coastal communities between Portsmouth and Pevensey. It serves a population of over 750,000 people, and a large number of businesses in locations such as Portsmouth, Havant, Chichester, Arundel, Worthing, Brighton and Hove and Eastbourne.
- The A27 is already operating at 100%-150% capacity at Arundel (A27 Corridor Feasibility Study 2015)
- The single carriageway and junctions through Arundel do not cope with existing traffic, which often results in long queues of traffic.
- Due to congestion, some longer distance traffic uses local roads, which comprises their safety and affects the South Downs National Park and local villages and towns.
- Population growth and increased economic activity in the region will mean even more traffic using in the future.
- Without improvement, congestion and delays on the A27 through Arundel will increase.
The scheme will help reduce congestion, improve journey times and reliability, increase safety and support local economic growth.
It is also vital that we respect the South Downs National Park in any decision, and will seek to design a scheme that it is as sensitive as positive to the area.
The A27 bypass around Arundel has 3 suggested routes.
A public consultation is now open, and is going to be open for the first half term of the Autumn term.
For schools in that area particularly, the booklet that can be downloaded from the link would make a good basis for a decision making exercise, and a more local example could be 'created' using Digimap for Schools a la Keytown (or there may be a proposed scheme that could be evaluated)
Image: Highways Agency
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