Arundel Bypass: New Plans To Go On Show For Public Consultation

Updated plans for upgrading what is described as "one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in South East England" have been unveiled by National Highways.

The A27 connects many coastal communities and serves a combined population of more than one million people; it is essential to those who live and work in the area.

Highways England say the plans will help improve journeys for tens of thousands of drivers using the A27 around Arundel, the only section of single carriageway between Worthing and the New Forest.

They add that the plans will also protect Arundel’s historic town centre and draw long distance traffic away from other, less suitable roads through the South Downs National Park.

The grey route, which was chosen in October 2020, includes creating a new dual carriageway to join up the two existing sections either side of Arundel and will help to reduce journey times, improve reliability and make the road safer.

National Highways Arundel Bypass senior project manager Andrew Jackson said:

“We have worked hard on these plans since the announcement of the grey route in 2020. These plans will tackle one of the biggest traffic bottlenecks in the South-East and will improve journeys for thousands of drivers on the A27, not only in and around Arundel but along the whole south coast.

“As well as being a traffic bottleneck, the existing A27 between the Crossbush and Fontwell East junctions experiences an above average number of accidents compared with other rural A-roads.” 

“Arundel is a special place and has a unique cultural heritage which is rightly protected. We have worked hard on the plans over the past 15 months and assessed the route in greater detail so that people can see and understand all the factors that needed to be assessed and how the scheme has been designed to fit into the landscape.  

"There is now much more detail available – I encourage people to look at the detailed consultation brochure and the flythrough to get an in-depth overview of where the main improvements have been made.”

“The whole point of this statutory consultation is to talk to people and hear feedback on our plans. All the information is available online to allow people to better understand how the scheme will affect them and my team and I will be out at public events over the coming weeks ready to answer people’s questions.”

The new bypass will start at Crossbush junction, currently a major bottleneck heading towards Arundel from the east

The plans for upgrading the A27 at Arundel will also feature a combination of improvements along the existing road through the South Downs National Park and Arundel.

The grey route features new bridges spanning the River Arun, over the Arun Valley Railway and over Binsted Rife, as well as a new junction at Crossbush, finally putting an end to the ‘road to nowhere’ junction.

Under the plans, around 8km (4.9 miles) of new dual carriageway will be created to the south of the existing A27, from Crossbush to Fontwell roundabout. Around 6.6km (4.1 miles) of the existing A27 will be de-trunked.

National Highways is holding 12 information exhibitions at venues across the area in addition to six ‘live chats’ throughout January and February so that people can examine the proposals and put any questions directly to project team. Documents will also be available to view at several locations in the area.

Details on the proposals, document inspection locations and feedback forms will be available from today until the consultation ends on 8 March 2022 at   https://a27arundelbypass.consultation.ai/

Full details of the events are as follows:

1    Arundel Town Hall    Arundel Town Hall, BN18 9AP    Tuesday 18 January 2022    11am - 7pm
2    Walberton Village Hall    Walberton Village Hall, BN18 0PJ    Saturday 22 January 2022    10am - 4pm
3    The White Swan    The White Swan, BN18 0AD    Thursday 27 January 2022    11am - 7pm
4    Fontwell Park Racecourse    Fontwell Park Racecourse, BN18 0SY    Thursday 3 February 2022    11am - 7pm
5    Yapton and Ford Road Village Hall    Yapton and Ford Road Village Hall, BN18 0ET    Saturday 5 February 2022    10am - 4pm
6    Slindon Coronation Hall    Coronation Hall, BN18 0QZ    Saturday 12 February 2022    10am - 4pm
7    Burpham Village Hall and Recreation Ground, BN18 9RR    Thursday 17 February 2022    10am - 2pm
8    The Regis Centre Car Park, Bognor Regis, PO21 1BL    Friday 18 February 2022    10am - 2pm
9    Whiteways Car Park, South Downs National Park, BN18 9FD    Saturday 19 February 2022    10am - 2pm
10    Walberton Village Hall    Walberton Village Hall, BN18 0PJ    Monday 21 February 2022    11am - 7pm
11    Littlehampton Town Council – Manor House    The Manor House, BN17 5EW    Tuesday 22 February 2022    11am - 7pm
12    Cathedral Centre    Cathedral Centre, BN18 9BA    Thursday 24 February 2022    11am - 7pm

Live chats:

1    Tuesday 25 January 2022    5pm - 8pm    https://a27arundelbypass.consultation.ai/
2    Tuesday 1 February 2022    5pm - 8pm    https://a27arundelbypass.consultation.ai/
3    Thursday 10 February 2022    10am - 1pm    https://a27arundelbypass.consultation.ai/
4    Saturday 26 February 2022    10am - 12pm    https://a27arundelbypass.consultation.ai/
5    Tuesday 1 March 2022    5pm - 8pm    https://a27arundelbypass.consultation.ai/
6    Friday 4 March 2022    10am - 1pm    https://a27arundelbypass.consultation.ai/