Highways Agency - Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

The Project

Construction of the Polegate Bypass started in July 2000 and the road was opened to traffic in June 2002. The Traffic Impact Study (see below) shows the effect that the Bypass has had on traffic flows on local roads.

Local people have been campaigning for the Polegate Bypass for many years and will nowbenefit from the removal of heavy traffic from the centre of the town, making it a safer, cleaner and more amenable place for residents.

Local support for the scheme grew when the construction of East Sussex County Council'sA22 New Route began. This was to include an eventual connection to the Polegate bypassscheme at Dittons, but could not come into effect until the A27 scheme had been built.

The 2.5 km (1.5 mile) two lane dual carriageway for the A27 now links up with the A22 New Route, creating the new through route to the centre and east of Eastbourne.

This not only means faster, more reliable connections to and from the town centre and coast, but provides for the regeneration of the area. It also means that residentswhose town has been divided in two by the A27 trunk road and had suffered from its noise, air pollution and traffic delays, will be able to create a closer community again.

POPE - Five Year After study

As part of our ongoing programme of Post Opening Project Evaluation (POPE)  this scheme has been reviewed at one and five years after opening.  The studies compare the outturn effects of this scheme to the predicted impacts. A summary of the five year after report is available to download here: A27 Polegate FYA summary (PDF 47 KB).  If you require a full version of  this report or the one year after study, please contact us.