Work starts soon to improve safety on the A285 between Halnaker and Petworth.
West Sussex Highways successfully bid for £2.4million from the Department for Transport’s Safer Roads Fund so the scheme can go ahead. Improvements will include:
• constructing sections of hard strip safety edge at the side of the road to help in cases of driver error
• introducing a ribbed edge line, similar to the ones found on motorways and dual carriageways
• making lane widths more consistent
Roger Elkins, county council Cabinet Member for Highways and Infrastructure, said: “Over half of the serious accidents on the A285 involve drivers leaving the road: the ribbed edge line will introduce an audible and tactile warning to drivers if they leave their lane.
“The new hard strip will allow them time to recover and steer back to the road before they run onto the verge, from where is it far more difficult to regain control.”
Work will start on 8 October and take about six months. It will be done in sections, focusing on 300m areas at a time, with one or two sets of temporary traffic lights in operation for the safety of the workforce and public.
Working times will be 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, and the lights will be manually controlled at peak periods.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused but please be assured our contractor will do everything possible to minimise delays.
The contractor for the project will be Balfour Beatty Living Places.
Steve Phillips, Contract Director for Balfour Beatty Living Places, said: “We are pleased to be implementing a number of highways improvements to the A285 between Halnaker and Petworth.
“The A285 is a critical road for West Sussex, and these measures will give drivers using the road more space and lane boundary warning to help improve road safety.”
