Roadworks on the A259 which have dragged on for four and a half years are finally due to be completed in weeks.
The Shelter Hall beneath is now complete, and is due to open on July 4 as a fancy food hall featuring Carlito Burrito, Smorls, Fatto a Mano and more.
Since work began restoring the Victorian building, the cycle lane above it on Kings Road at the bottom of West Street has been closed, with cyclists asked to share a narrow footpath with pedestrians.
The number of lanes for motorised traffic has also been reduced from three lanes to two.
The final part of the project, creating dedicated crossing phases for cyclists and banning right turns from West Street at the junction with Kings Road and West Street, began last month and is now due to finish in August.
However, the cycle lane will soon be moved off the pavement and onto the road itself, following last week’s approval of this and a raft of other measures to give more space to pedestrians and cyclists.
A council spokesman said: “The scheme will be substantially complete early August and the junction works around mid-August.”
Work started on the Shelter Hall in October 2015, and the roadworks above began on January 4, 2016.
They were originally slated to last for two years at a cost of £10 million, but the costs rose to £19 million after the council decided to upgrade the quality of the replacement Shelter Hall to make it more attractive to investors.
The extra money was also needed because the structure underpinning the A259 above was in a worse state than expected, requiring complex engineering work.
The Shelter Hall was granted an alcohol licence last month, after councillors were told the food hall would improve the demographics of the seafront.
Shelter Hall Raw will feature ten pop up stalls from Brighton and Hove eateries. The first line up includes Fatto a Mano, Lost Boys Chicken, Carlito Burrito, Brighton Coffee Works, Toasted by GB Charcuterie and Smorls.
Hurrah that they are closing ‘covid alley’ at last, but it’s not clear why this has taken so long.
The upper part of the shelter hall building is not yet finished and yet work seems to have ground to a halt, maybe because they have no tenant for that restaurant section yet.
Behind the hoarding is the builders’ dumping site for materials but it’s a space that doesn’t seem to have been used for a while, so let’s have the upper promenade back.
As for the new cycle lane, this is the backdoor con we’ve been expecting for some time. Far from being ‘temporary’ it’s always been on the council’s Green/Lab coalition agenda because of the nut jobs who are currently in charge. They put ideology ahead of common sense.
Note too, they have just widened the pedestrian island at the bottom of west street, so the bit of road left for cars, lorries, taxis and buses will be down to single file in each direction. This is an obvious slap in the face for any commuters wishing to get across the city, and for any visitors arriving by car.
It’s not clear either why the pedestrian underpass leading to the beach has not yet re-opened.
It’s like the council want to put a deliberate road block in place, diving west from east.
If there was other public transport available, or new park and ride schemes in place, then it might make sense.
I suspect many cyclists will still ride on the promenade because most are in no hurry and they want to look at the sea.
Excellent. Putting locals first.