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Upper Lewes Road access

UPDATE: The Round Hill Society is pleased to report that Brighton and Hove City Council acted on our chair's request (reproduced below) and installed a yellow box junction to help vehicles at the east emd of Roundhill Crescent emerge onto Upper Lewes Road.

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THE PROBLEM - NOW SOLVED 

Traffic entering the Vogue Gyratory from the Upper Lewes Rd now queues back significantly. Often up to 20 cars/lorries at peak times. This causes noise/pollution problems from houses nearby and also prevents cars who have left the gyratory turning into Roundhill Crescent. These cars then wait for a gap in the queuing traffic to turn, causing further queues, this time back towards the gyratory junction. At its worst I traffic is blocked right across the junction.

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Our chair's description of the problems

Message to Brighton and Hove Council's Principal Transport Planner

I am chair of the Round Hill Society and Pete West suggested I contact you to request help from the council.

Since the changes at the Vogue Gyratory there have been some knock problems along the Upper Lewes Rd, which we think can be solved with Council support and action.

1. Traffic entering the gyratory from the Upper Lewes Rd now queues back significantly. Often up to 20 cars/lorries at peak times. This causes noise/pollution problems from houses nearby and also prevents cars who have left the gyratory turning into Roundhill Crescent. These cars then wait for a gap in the queuing traffic to turn, causing further queues, this time back towards the gyratory junction. At its worst I have seen traffic blocked right across the junction.

We believe there are two easy solutions to this problem: a yellow box junction painted onto Upper Lewes Rd at the junction of Roundhill Crescent (East end only) to allow traffic coming from the gyratory to turn right into Roundhill Crescent AND a slight retiming of the traffic lights allowing 6-7 cars approaching the gyratory from the Upper Lewes Rd to cross at the lights (currently only 4-5 cars can get over).

2. People wishing to cross the Upper Lewes Rd near the junction of St Paul's Street and (the other end) Roundhill Crescent to get to shops, buses and schools now find it very difficult to do so safely. Despite the traffic moving much more slowly, the combination of cars weaving between communal bins and parks cars have removed clear sight lines for pedestrians. Additionally cars often give way to each other between groups of parked cars, meaning it is difficult to predict which cars are about to move. Also cars are now more spread out so there are fewer gaps in the traffic to cross safely.

We request that a zebra crossing is installed close to this junction.

I am very happy to meet and explain the issues 'at the scene' and look forward to hearing your thoughts

Principal Transport Planner's response

Thank you for your email regarding Upper Lewes Road.

As it happens, I am in the process of looking into the possibility of installing a 'keep clear' marking at this location following a request from another local resident. I cannot say for sure at the moment whether this can go ahead but if it proves to be viable then I will ensure that it is installed as soon as possible.

With regards to the signals, we will shortly be switching on the new 'MOVA' controls at the Vogue Gyratory. Once this is operational, the signals will vary their green times according to the queue lengths on each arm of the junction. This is determined by detection loops that were installed in the carriageway on the approach to each signal as part of the works. At the moment the signals work on a fixed time basis and so you should hopefully see some improvement in waiting times once this is complete. However, please rest assured that we are still monitoring the junction and further adjustments will be made as necessary.

Thank you for your suggestion for a zebra crossing near St. Paul's Street. All crossing requests in the City are assessed based on strict criteria and locations are prioritised based on the outcome. I have therefore passed your request to our road safety team who manage this process for their consideration.

For more information on the pedestrian crossing request process, please visit our website at
https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/content/parking-and-travel/travel-transport-and-road-safety/pedestrian-crossing-points

I hope this information has been of assistance to you.

Kind regards

This page was last updated by Ted on 03-Nov-2015
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