Brighton & Hove To Receive Share Of Over £14million For Work To Major Road

Brighton & Hove is one of six areas in the South East that will receive a share of a £14.4 million boost to enhance the safety of some of the most high-risk roads in the region.

The Department for Transport announced the funding last week, with Isle of Wight, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Portsmouth and Southampton also set to benefit.

Brighton & Hove will receive £600,000 for work to the A2010 Between the A259 and the A270.

Through the Safer Roads Fund, this road, one of the seven roads chosen, form part of 27 new schemes that will be delivered across England, benefiting road users around the country by driving forward safety improvements such as re-designing junctions and improving signage and road markings. The programme will reduce the risk of collisions, in turn reducing congestion, journey times and emissions.  

As part of the Safer Roads Fund, the Government, working with local authorities and safety groups, is continuing to deliver a wide range of improvements across all roads.

To date, £100m has been provided through the programme to improve the 50 most dangerous roads in England, the majority of which are rural roads. Some of the improvements already made include improved signage, safer pedestrian crossings and better designed junctions.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said:  

“Britain’s roads are some of the safest in the world, but we are always looking at ways to help keep motorists and all road users safer.

“That’s why we’re investing £14.4 million to improve the safety of roads across the South East and this is the first crucial step to ensuring local councils have the support they need to keep everyone safe, while also reducing congestion and emissions.”

Dr Suzy Charman, Executive Director of the Road Safety Foundation said:  

“The commitment and funding announced today is transformational for road safety teams in local authorities across the country. It will allow them to proactively reduce risk and make these 27 roads safer and more inviting for all road users.

“Systematic changes have already had a big impact on road death and serious injury, for example seatbelts and airbags protect lives when crashes happen.  In the same way we can design roads so that when crashes happen people can walk away, by clearing or protecting roadsides, putting in cross hatching to add space between vehicles, providing safer junctions like roundabouts or adding signalisation and/or turning pockets, and including facilities for walking and cycling.”  

This additional investment builds on the Government’s plans to recruit a specialised team of inspectors to build the country’s first ever Road Safety Investigation Branch. The team will look at how and why incidents happen and build an enhanced understanding of how we can better mitigate collisions.  

It also follows the actions Government has already taken to improve road safety, including banning any use of handheld mobile phones behind the wheel, updating the Highway Code to introduce a hierarchy of road users, placing those road users most at risk in the event of a collision at the top of the hierarchy.

The other roads included in the scheme are:

• A3056 Between the A3020 and the A3055 near Sandown
• A35 Between the M271 near Totton and the Dorset border
• A4158 Between the A420 in Oxford and the A4142
• A4165 Between the A40 and the A4144 in Oxford
• A2047 Between the A3 near Hilsea and the A2030 near Fratton
• A3025 Between the A33 in Southampton and the B3033