People may soon be able to breathe more easily in one of Brighton’s most congested streets.
The coalition government has awarded more than £4 million towards the cost of a scheme to improve Lewes Road and cut air pollution.
The money is coming from the government’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund which is aimed at creating growth and reducing carbon emissions.
Brighton and Hove City Council said that the funding would be used to help local people make more eco-friendly transport plans for themselves.
The scheme will involve some physical alterations to the road which are intended to improve the experience of bus passengers, cyclists and pedestrians.
And the council aims to bring in better links to the new South Downs National Park.
Work is expected to start this year although the exact timescale for the project has yet to be fixed.
Crucial
The council said that the scheme would be worth about £6 million over four years with external partnership and council funds and support from the local community.
Key partners in the bid included Southern Rail, Brighton and Hove Buses, Sussex University, Brighton University, Brighton and Hove City Teaching Primary Care Trust, and the Engineering and Physical Research Council.
The council’s cabinet member for transport Councillor Ian Davey said: “One of our key aims is to give the city the infrastructure it needs to be open for business.
“A crucial part of that is sustainable transport, enabling people and goods to move around without spoiling our streets or the air we breathe.
“This is a great opportunity for the council to work with residents and business to alleviate some of the transport problems in the area, particularly poor air quality caused by congestion.”
A council spokesman added: “This is part of our aim to make the city one of the greenest in the UK.”
Some 66 councils bid for a pot of £155 million which the government made available.
Just 37 authorities were successful.
The only way to cure the pollution problems in the Lewes Rd and to support local businesses is to remove the bus lanes and it won’t cost millions! All of the city centre’s pollution problems have been compounded and shunted out in to the periphery roads.
I don’t live on the Lewes Rd but anyone who does must be suffering dreadfully with the stationary traffic spilling fumes & filth in through their windows since the bus lanes were installed, to accommodate the football stadium and the universities.