A259 roadworks in Littlehampton and Angmering delayed due to Covid

Completion of major roadworks along the A259 between Angmering and Littlehampton has been delayed.
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The widening of around 2km of the road into a dual-carriageway started in the middle of 2020 and was scheduled to be completed in autumn next year.

But West Sussex County Council has announced the end date for the project has now been pushed back to the winter, due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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The council said progress had particularly slowed at the Angmering end of the scheme, mainly because UK Power Networks is needed to remove and replace a high voltage electricity cable so work could continue.

Work underway on the A259Work underway on the A259
Work underway on the A259

The £2million job has had to be delayed, however, as UK Power Networks has had to prioritise emergency work such as getting supplies to test centres, the Nightingale hospitals etc.

A West Sussex County Council spokesman said: “This unprecedented situation meant, understandably, they could not meet the demands of our programme.

“However, we have actively been working with UK Power Networks and our principal contractor, Volker Fitzpatrick, in re-planning the works to try to reduce the impact of this problem. By working together, we have been able to reduce the delay to four months, resulting in a revised estimated completion in the winter of 2022. As with all construction projects, this is still subject to unforeseen factors, such as prolonged, extreme weather.

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“We will continue to seek opportunities to further reduce the delay. We would also like to thank the public for their patience while the works are ongoing.

“Once completed, the improvements will reduce traffic congestion by increasing road capacity and so cut both journey times and pollution

A spokesman for UK Power Networks said: “We share the council’s desire for this project to progress quickly and continue to work closely with our customer to complete this work as quickly as possible. We have appointed two contractors to accelerate our work and aim to complete the essential work on the cable diversion in September, 2021.

“We plan to complete the remaining work after this, but this should not have any further impact on the construction of the dual carriageway.”

More details about the A259 major improvement scheme can be found on the County Council’s website.

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