Work on the third phase of the Valley Gardens project is due to start in the spring.
The work, which will include taking out the Aquarium roundabout and replacing it with a T junction, will take almost two years to complete.
It will coincide with the reworking of another major city centre route, Western Road, where 18 months of works to make the shopping parade more pedestrian and cycle-friendly is beginning this month.
And meanwhile work starts next week on a new pedestrian and cycle route from Madeira Drive to Brighton Marina, which will see traffic into the marina re-routed until summer.
Construction contractors for phase three of Valley Gardens are due to be appointed in the coming weeks.
It will complete the transformation of the area from the Level to the Palace Pier, which began in autumn 2018. The first two phases were completed in summer 2020.
A council spokesman said: “We’re currently in the process of appointing a contractor for Valley Gardens 3 and hope to do this in the next couple of months.
“Construction is scheduled to begin in the spring of this year and completed in late 2024.”
During the works, temporary traffic lanes will be introduced, with the aim of minimising disruption and maintaining as much access as possible.
Where possible, materials will be recycled as with the first two phases, where kerbs stones were reused for loading bays.
As well as the reworking of the junction in front of the pier new segregated cycle lanes will run from Victoria Gardens to the seafront through new pedestrianised areas in front of the Pavilion and south of the Old Steine.
A new taxi rank will be put near the Palace Pier junction, more blue badge and doctors’ parking bays and new trees are also included.
The approved scheme can be viewed here.
The work, which was originally slated to cost £7.8 million, has now risen to almost £13 million because of significant delays partly caused by the pandemic.
The council agreed to borrow an extra £5 million in January last year, to add to the £6 million government funding and £1.84 million council funding already committed to the project.
The Western Road works involve resurfacing the road and simplifying the layout, to include a central strip to help pedestrians cross. New cycle parking and pedestrian crossings will also be installed.
Eastbound buses will be diverted up Montpelier Road and along Upper North Street to Regent Hill for up to two years while works continue.
The Madeira Drive works will mean the Marina’s exit ramp (the lower ramp) will have to temporarily close, with the upper ramp being converted to two-way traffic in the meantime.
Vehicles leaving the marina and travelling westbound into Brighton will access the seafront road using a signed diversion route via the Wilson Avenue/Gas Works junction on Marina Way.
Another green cockup in the making. Traffic will be gridlocked, nox levels through the roof like the Vogue gyratory on the Lewes Rd post ‘upgrade’. Phelim and his ship of fools will have blood on their hands. Careful how you vote next time.
Hopefully these works will never be completed after a regime change. Nice to have campaign points to speak about on the doorstep though.
We all love our seafront but I’m betting that different sections appeal to different people.
Why then are pedestrians and those in the Valley Gardens cycle lanes being directed straight at the Palace Pier ?
Just look at the new junction as shown in the picture here.
This new layout is directing all the city users directly at the Palace Pier road junction, which itself is already one of the busiest traffic junctions in the city.
It’s a busy road junction because it’s part of the A259 which is the last remaining cross-city route for those heading east or west, and it’s also part of several bus routes.
So who thought it would be sensible to focus all these journeys towards one single point, when that didn’t need to happen at all?
We are told the Palace Pier roundabout is being removed in the name of road safety. But this new layout is a much bigger accident waiting to happen. Madness.
Even the traffic experts have said this change will also create a major city centre logjam, and note that no other east-west routes or public transport alternatives are being offered.
And where are the park and ride schemes for the visitors and tourists?
They want to create this log jam and then put the blame purely on the number of cars…supposedly strengthening their argument that more cycle routes are the answer. The planning capabilities of these people is embarrassing…and ruining the city.
It has all the hallmarks of a complete and utter planning disaster.
But that’s ok, because councillor Davis says removing the Aquarium roundabout won’t make traffic jams worse, and after all, it was one of the most dangerous roundabouts on the Known Universe. And he knows best
Looks good. Really important we keep updating and modernising the city. Ultimately it’s a tourist resort. Am sure the affordable housing crew in will think the money should be used for free houses and more benefits instead
Looks great, a huge improvement on what we currently have.
Glad the council have ignored the very loud minority (e.g. Bill Short) – given they complain about anything and everything it would be wrong to take them seriously.
How can you improve on effectively enabling traffic to move east to west? Ah, you are one of Caroline’s familiars.
Mick
Beg to differ that it will be a huge improvement.
I’m saddened that the council haven’t listened to Road traffic experts, that would be people like the DVSA, ROSPA and other professional bodies who have stated this scheme is of little benefit and the loan/grant money lenders that it’s not value for money.
The only thing that will be huge, will be the increase in congestion and pollution and even BHCC have admitted there will delays.
Sheer madness.
It’s so important we have safe routes to the sea. Now a peaceful gateway to mindfulness. Cold water. The sun. A bike ride. A dip then a glass of Prosecco in your garden. Love our city. We need to mindful of mindfulness. This helps folk a lot! Great job
This will be a massive step forward for cyclists, and removing the complex roundabout will help car traffic too. Bonkers for Brighton to have such a key junction right by it’s main attraction and really more should be done to reduce traffic volumes and speeds. But at least it is a start.
Sam
If the green area’s in the photo are the cycle lanes then there’s a flaw in it already. The double cycle lane to the right I assume will be two way up past the pavilion and directly connects to the Valley Garden system and great job done cyclist away from traffic ie buses etc.
So looking at the new junction, why is there a cycle lane filtering left when it is not connected to anything, very close to a bus stop too.
The impression then is that it would be for any cyclist using the main road, something they can do, but surely the idea is for cycle lanes to be joined up something a lot of cyclist complain about.
Why could they not make that a BUS lane all the way round to the next bus stop, that would help keep buses flowing and be used by cyclists too.
As for the roundabout, to be fair, it’s not that complex. It only has four possible exit’s with all exits having two lanes to filter off on.
BHCC quoted it was a accident black spot, but data showed that wasn’t the case. My research, showed that the redevelopment at the 7 dials had higher crash figures than the Old Steine roundabout and 7 dials isn’t as busy.
Removing the roundabout where currently traffic flows well wont be improved by a junction. This will only create congestion not disperse it and our council have already been told this scheme is of very low benefit and value by the experts and BHCC have already admitted will create additional delays. They stupidly believe traffic will only be delayed by 30 seconds when in reality the avarage time traffic waits at a red light is 2 minutes.
So what do you suggest to reduce traffic ?
Yes cycle lanes is one option, but what for those where that isn’t possible. The A259 is a main hub, so will always be busier and it’s a main through route as well of course.
It’s important not to mix things up here.
No-one is objecting to the area being refurbished or modernised.
And as a cyclist I personally welcome all bespoke cycle lanes.
The objection here is that we do not need to be directed straight towards the busiest road traffic junction in the city – not least because we may be heading east or west as our final destination, or to different sections of the beach and not to the Palace Pier.
Cyclists could have been directed down East Street, for example, then hitting the seafront away from this busy junction. The same thing is true for the pedestrian flow.
This is not a discussion about ‘mindfulness’ or how much we love our beach – it’s about practicalities.
Where this scheme fails is in that it is not part of any city-wide transport strategy. It fails to look at the flow of essential traffic or the needs of public transport. For example, with this new junction the slip roads are lost for those turning left. The through traffic is held up every time a pedestrian or cyclist wants to cross. Cross city public transport is held up further.
More importantly, no alternative ring road routes are being offered, and no park and ride schemes are being built. There’s no tram route or underground network like other modern cities have. We have no affordable local trains.
Ironically, we have already seen the likely outcome of this new scheme. When they installed a cycle lane around the Palace Pier round two years ago it had to be removed immediately because all the traffic was brought to a halt and buses had to be redirected down Edward street.
First look at the Mott McDonad map: bus lane southbound just before the proposed new junction is on the right-hand side of three southbound lanes. There is a bus-stop on the left hand side, across the road. How will this work?
mike letton
The right turn for buses is so they can turn around as some terminate at the Old Steine like the 25.
The bus stop on the left would be for the seafront service’s, there’s one outside subways so guessing there moving it up.
I’ve already seen a flaw here, the new stop is very close to the night club and just imagining all the dwellers coming out and taxis double parking already.
Yibble
So, marina, old Steine and Western Road major road works all at the same time then, maybe Hove and Elm Grove could be started as well just for good measure, great Buses won’t be an option by the sound of it so it’s back to the car full time then and going somewhere more accessible.
The whole proposal is a joke,never see a cyclist in the wet weather! It’s only supported by those whom have no interest in Brighton and its history except prosecco drinkers who like to cook a snoop at the people who care enough about the wholesale destruction of Brighton. I am all for change, but if it ain’t broke ??? It’s the only way this inept council, with its diabolical way of making local people unhappy they will use there begging bowl for government alms and all the proceeds of parking fines,etc to clear there other debts like the i360 they have no clue how to run a city the sooner there gone,,for good the better
This is UN AGENDA 21.
The agenda for the 21st Century
AGENDA 30 & AGENDA 2050 are milestones along the way to
Net Zero.
Look up ukfires.org
That is the blueprint for this.
This is the creation of smart cities otherwise known as 15 minute cities. You won’t be driving that’s why it looks mad. Remove the car and it makes sense.
It would be great for the city to be car free. But that then begs the question of how we get to work or how we cross the city to, say, get to the hospital. How do tourists get here when our trains don’t run and are unaffordable for family outings?
How do we get deliveries to our houses, and how do tradesmen get to us to fix our plumbing or to refurbish our rooms?
It’s also a bit silly to think you can predict the future – when that’s usually just wishful thinking.
Everything this council is doing makes public transport worse and cycling is certainly not the ‘one-size-fits-all’ answer.
The truth is we don’t see cyclists on wet days or on windy days – like today. Indeed, we don’t see many cyclists in the winter months. We don’t see many cyclists at night. In other words, we don’t see cyclists for most of the year.
Where is the new public transport? Where are the transport alternatives for those in cars on essential journeys? We don’t mind having new cycle lanes but why is road space being reduced unnecessarily and traffic flow slowed deliberately?
There is nothing about what they are doing that heads towards reducing carbon emissions or with any goal of being net zero.
Despite all the cheerleading from a supposedly Green council, the city population is actually expanding fast – with concrete, steel and plastics being used in every new block of flats, and with trees being cut down everywhere. The Valley Gardens changes have actually reduced green spaces and phase three is no different.
There seems to be no realistic city-wide transport strategy, and no long term planning.
All the changes we see are really about what funding is available, and the ring-fenced budget system leads to public money being continually misspent.
Yes, it would, Billy, but, as you imply, this is just an unrealistic and frankly very stupid Green dream. The last time they controlled the council (legitimately, unlike this time round, when they got into ‘power’ because of Labour’s malfunctions – re ill-advised re-tweets and membership of Momentum etc) they messed up the city big-time traffic-wise and now they have done it again. The only Green thing about them is being ‘green’ – small G as in naive and stupid – so hopefully they will get decimated in the May elections, which is what they deserve.
Lol all this will do is cause pure chaos
If you reduce lanes from 2 to 1, you increase traffic as they wait for signals to cycle. North Street is a prime example of this. The Steine with buses pulling away will be a problem, if not having to wait for the bus in front to move first, effecting other services.
No bus stand either. Too many parts of the pavement pulled out to make pulling into a stop efficiently.