Works to repair a faulty road sign by the Vogue Gyratory have caused massive traffic jams today – and the work is set to continue until the end of Friday.
Electrical engineers began repairing the illuminated road sign this morning, reducing the Lewes Road to just a single lane by the gyratory.
Brighton and Hove Buses, whose services have been delayed by up to 45 minutes today, says it expects the works to be completed tomorrow – but UK Power Networks, which is carrying out the repairs, says they it’s due to continue until the end of Friday.
A spokeswoman for UK Power Networks said: “UK Power Networks today started repairing the power supply to an illuminated road sign in Lewes Road, Brighton, which requires extensive excavation work.
“We would like to apologise for the impact on traffic caused by the temporary traffic lights, which ensure a safe working area. This work is due to be finished by the end of Friday.”
A spokeswoman for Brighton buses said: “I understand that it is emergency electrical work being carried out by UK Power Networks and is taking place around the gyratory in both directions.
“We’re in conversation with the council to see if can reduce the duration of the delay. We’re expecting the works to be complete tomorrow.
“Currently it’s causing 30-45 min delays on the buses on Lewes Road.”
Meanwhile, the nothern section of the road is also due to be dug up overnight on Thursday by Southern Gas Networks (SGN), which said: “We need to carry out further emergency repairs to our gas main in the A270 Lewes Road.
To ensure everyone’s safety while we work, there will be three-way temporary traffic lights in place at the junction of Lewes Road and Coldean Lane from 7.30pm tomorrow evening (Thursday 4 May).
“Our teams will be working through the night to complete the repairs. We will reopen the road for 6am on Friday 5 May to avoid further disruption to motorists.
“We understand this is an extremely busy route and would like to assure motorists we’ll be working hard to complete these urgent repairs as soon as possible.”
signs of course are far far more important than traffic flow! Like white and yellow line marking…make sure they are fresh and clear even if the road is like a farm track…
Absolute chaos. Why on earth would this take so long to repair??
Embarrassing – shambolic management
The Lewes Road has become ridiculous ever since they reduced it to one lane for cars and one for buses, a place to avoid at any time. The knock on effect makes the Falmer Road, past the Amex Stadium, chock a block in the morning and evening. Obviously a scheme put in place by someone who has no knowledge of the area and never drives that road. Well done Highways!
30 to 45 minute delay is an underestimate.
My bus journey took more than an hour longer than usual.
I thought all of this was done when they built all of the cycle laneswhy do they constantly need to dig up the roads.Why not put in large enough pipes so that cables can be pulled through.