The reworking of the area around the Old Steine is on track to be completed next summer.
The project, known as Valley Gardens phase three, will see the Aquarium roundabout replaced with traffic lights next spring – and a new square created between the Pavilion and the war memorial.
It will also make it far easier to walk from the Old Steine to the Palace Pier, opening up the area for pedestrians who currently have to wait at up to five sets of traffic lights.
Over the last six months, a traffic light in front of the Royal Albion Hotel has been removed to create space for wider pavements, cycle lanes and trees.
New crossings have been put in at St James’s Street and new paving on the eastern side of the Old Steine.
The work will move to the western side of the Old Steine over summer, with more pavements being replaced.
But in late summer, the biggest changes will begin, with the new square being built and traffic rerouted to the eastern side.
Finally, in winter, work will start on replacing the Aquarium Roundabout in front of the Palace Pier, which is set to run through spring until the summer completion date.
Councillor Trevor Muten, cabinet member for transport, said: “It’s been great to see the progress of this transformational project over the past six months.
“The new crossings at the St James’s Street junction are a big improvement, while the new space at Princes Street makes the area much safer for pedestrians. We can also start to see just how much more public space will be created outside the Royal Albion.
“This is an exciting project and we’re making great strides.
“Valley Gardens phase three is going to make this part of the city look and feel so much better – a gem in our city and a real improvement our residents can be proud of.”
Almost three hours have gone by and there is nothing from those who usually squawk louder than any seagull about these works in progress. Can we hope that they have come to realise that this will make it an area in which to stroll rather than a dead zone long avoided?
When will you be preparing the humble pie for yourself/Muten/Bricycles to feast upon?
Independent consultants told the Council this would lead to increased congestion and pollution.
And don’t forget the £7m cost (over and above the Govt grant) that local taxpayers are being forced to shoulder
“Independent consultants told the Council this would lead to increased congestion and pollution.”
Source? 🥱
To be fair to Tom, the transport business case for VG3 does acknowledge that while the scheme aims to improve traffic flow during peak morning hours, it may result in slightly longer journey times across other parts of the day. The TRO consultation received predominantly supportive feedback, with 57 out of 62 responses in favour. So it’s a trade-off. In short, peak times should improve, but outside of that, we may see a marginal increase in congestion compared to current conditions.
On pollution, the data is limited, especially in terms of direct measurements, forming a wider strategy focused on shifting transport habits, so air quality benefits are likely to be indirect and longer-term.
Benjamin; 62 responses from a city with a population approaching 300,000 is not a consultation. It merely means it was not correctly publicised/advertised and therefore provides no mandate. I am also deeply sceptical about the ’57 out of 62′ responses being positive. In previous consultations about transport ‘improvements’ (including the Old Shoreham Road cycle lanes), the phrasing of the questions and the optional answers were such that it was almost impossible to leave an unfavourable response. The proportion of negative comments both here and in the Argus comments illustrate that the figures you quote bear no resemblance to true public opinion. It’s such a pity that successive elected administration show apparent contempt for the opinions of the electorate.
It’s interesting though that there are already traffic lights on all the approach roads to the roundabout. So they’re replacing traffic lights with traffic lights.
The article is full of inaccuracies, it states FIVE sets of Traffic lights and I quote, “It will also make it far easier to walk from the Old Steine to the Palace Pier, opening up the area for pedestrians who currently have to wait at up to five sets of traffic lights”.
From the Old Steine as a pedestrian there’s two sets, three at a push.
They claim it will be a safer area, I doubt it very much and will state it will be more of a danger zone around the bottom of St James Street where all traffic will converge. Buses and other vehicles all using the same side of the road squeezed into limited space.
How would a pedestrian get from the Victoria Fountain in the Old Steine to the Palace Pier going through only “two sets, three at a push”?
Tom Harding asks when I will be preparing humble pie. I can assure him that I shall not be doing so. After all, I am a vegetarian. The pie in question is formed from a deer’s lesser though vital innards otherwise known as offal. That is, the medieval umble pie derived from the French term numble for those organs. I feel sure that cllr Muten and Bricycles are equally aghast at Mr. Harding advocating of such a dish being served in celebration of the work being completed at Valley Gardens.
All because the partner of a former Green convenor didn’t like driving round that roundabout. Their malign influence still persists, causing havoc across the city. Poor Brighton & Hove.
I’d like for the Greens to be held accountable for their ableist traffic “improvements” across the city one day, but I doubt it’ll happen. Butchered roads and decimated blue badge parking aside – I look forward to seeing the finished product as the Steine has been neglected and felt extremely tired looking for years now. It’s just a shame we’ll all be so delirious from the traffic fumes that we won’t notice any difference 😉
I must confess that I’m somewhat puzzled by some of the statements made in both the article and comments. In the fifty two years I’ve lived in Brighton I have, apart from avoiding inconsiderate high speed pavement cyclists, never encountered any problems walking down Valley Gardens/The Old Steine to the seafront.
Who this, no doubt highly expensive, project actually benefits we’ll have to wait and see but I doubt that it’ll make much difference to the pedestrian experiance.
The current layout is horrible, messy, dated, and poor quality. The Council is creating what is essentially a walkable park from the seafront along valley gardens. Do some of you really you have nothing better to do at all than sit here and moan about it between here and the Argus?
The idea that everyone in Valley Gardens is heading to the Palace Pier is just dumb.
So to direct pedestrians and cyclists straight at the busiest road junction in the city is also the most stupid part of the Valley Gardens refurb.
(I have no problem with other aspects of the VG3 design, and the renewal it brings).
But cyclists and pedestrians have several final destinations, be that on the seafront or in the city centre, and they also have a number of alternative routes to choose from. Whereas the commuter cars, trader vans, delivery trucks, visitor cars, and indeed some of our buses, have no choice but to use this junction, so this new design, focusing every user towards one dangerous pinch point, is just madness.
Note that, for drivers, the seafront A259 road is our last remaining cross city route.
*But cyclists…have a number of alternative routes to choose from.”
Give one that’s open 24/7.
Car Delenda Est,
Surely, every road is open to cyclists, 24/7 ?
I’m a regular cyclist (when not working), and I have numerous routes to cross the city.
However, as a van driver, I have only three cross city options, all of which entail me driving in one way systems which make the journey longer.
As drivers, we’re frequently told we are part of the problem. Unfortunately, in my case, having to work is actually the problem.
I always liked the idea of a turbo roundabout and a walkbridge to ensure unimpeded flow of road users going West/East.
All completely unnecessary.
In fact Pool Valley coach station worked way better in the 1960s if you look at old photographs. The traffic flow was also balanced and even around the Old Steine and Valley Gardens. It is now unbalanced with unnecessary congestion and bus gates.
The more work this council does, the more mayhem, imbalance and mess it creates. And bankrupt businesses now our visitors and tourists are increasingly finding it easier and cheaper to visit elsewhere.
The overstuffed transport department are an embarrassment and appear to undertake no economic impact assessments before acting to block roads and change layouts at whim.
Mikey, I understand the nostalgia, but it’s important to consider how much Brighton has changed since the 1960s. Back then, the UK had approximately 5.5 million cars on the road. Today, that number exceeds 40 million. Brighton’s population has also grown, and with over 11 million visitors annually, the city’s infrastructure faces demands that simply didn’t exist in the past.
For instance, traffic counts on Marine Parade between Madeira Place and Camelford Street recorded an ADT of over 20,000 vehicles in recent years. Such volumes were unheard of in the 1960s.
The Old Steine and Valley Gardens areas now accommodate not just private vehicles, but also buses, delivery vans, cyclists, and people. The infrastructure must serve a diverse range of users, which wasn’t a consideration in the 1960s.
This is one point I don’t understand about this “improvement”. Why does it make the Coach Station so hard to use? Current West Bound coaches can use the roundabout to turn around. So what do they do with this new design?
Why is Brighton’s coach destination so bad?
I once lived in Brighton, when we had sensible East-West roads, as well as South-North routes (why the former had to be closed off to traffic and thus increase pollution and congestion, I have no idea). Now, when I come to visit my friends, a) the road system has changed every time, meaning one could be fined for unknowingly driving what has suddenly become a taxis/bus only lane, and b) it takes forever; you can leave loads of time, but with the seafront down to 1 lane each way there simply isn’t enough road to cope with the traffic. Now add to that the difficulty (particularly if you didn’t know Brighton) of parking AND the EXPENSE and you have everything you need to discourage shoppers, visitors, tourists and even people who live on the outskirts of the city from coming in and spending their money. Much of the time, these days, we meet our friends in Lewes instead. Brighton’s loss – Lewes’ gain. We eat, shop, go to the cinema and it’s all accessible to the motorist.