Traffic jams through Rottingdean are likely to continue until Friday as emergency gasworks continue.
Temporary traffic lights were put in place after a gas pipe was damaged by workers doing maintenance work for Southern Water last night.
Today, there were hour-long long queues back to Peacehaven along the A259. The phasing was later changed, and congestion has since eased.
This afternoon, the council said the temporary traffic lights are set to be operational until Friday.
Rottingdean councillor Bridget Fishleigh said the Southern Water team on site this morning were unable to alter the temporary traffic lights.
She told Brighton and Hove News: “I jumped out of bed and was down there as soon as I found out, and got the traffic light sequence changed.”
The gas pipe was damaged near the Post Office on Marine Drive in Rottingdean. The repairs will take place overnightfrom 8pm until 5am – with Southern Water carrying out some noisy work after 10pm tonight and tomorrow.
Most bus services are now back to their normal route, having faced delays and diversions on all coastal services towards Brighton from 7am this morning.
Brighton and Hove City Council said on Twitter: “Unfortunately a gas main was damaged while Southern Water was carrying out planned works overnight on Marine Drive in Rottingdean.
“SGN Gas is now on site to repair it. Temporary traffic lights need to remain in place during the day to allow the repair to be carried out safely.”
Brighton and Hove Buses reported delays of almost two hours on their service update web page this morning.
Brighton and Hove Buses issued a service update at 11.30am saying: “All 12, 12A, 12X, 14, 14C services are now back to normal route, some services may still terminate and restart at the Sealife Centre depending on congestion and lateness.”
The Southern Water website does not show an update on its works on Marine Drive, but does show a planned mains isolation with no water tomorrow in the BN10 7DT postcode.
A Southern Water spokesperson said: “Southern Water teams are replacing a water main on Marine Drive, Rottingdean.
“We are carrying out the repair works at night, at the request of Brighton and Hove Council and Brighton Bus Company.
“The repair work started on Tuesday, 16 April and is scheduled to finish on Friday, 19 April.
“However, to carry out the works safely, four-way temporary traffic lights are in place.
“We apologise for the traffic disruption and the inconvenience caused. We are working as quickly as we can to finish the work as soon as possible.”
Absolute farce this morning, whoever is in charge of traffic control should be taken to task. No account of traffic flow, no monitoring. Would work better with stop go boards, and people at the end of the queue, when the are out of radio range, they might leave the busy direction green longer.
If you think of the 2 day chaos around Rottingdean, just wait and see events when the coast road closes semi – permanently due to the ever encroaching cliff erosion!
Its complete incompetence isn’t it. You’d think we deserve better in this day and age. are the water board going to be fined for what they have cost local businesses, the extra fuel consumption for buses, cars taxis, the increased pollution from the idling traffic. Of course not.