Part of A259 Brighton seafront cycle lane is removed

At about 10pm last night, workers began to take away the bollards from the A259 lane between the Aquarium roundabout and West Street in Brighton – days after it officially opened.

It comes after Brighton and Hove Bus Company voiced its concerns about bus journey times and congestion.

The council’s lead member for transport Pete West said: “Congestion on this stretch has had a knock-on for major bus routes and delays to bus journey times – that is unacceptable.

"Sadly, attempted changes to adjust traffic light timings have not provided the answers needed as there is still insufficient capacity for the volume of traffic heading towards West Street.”

The radical changes to the seafront road’s layout were agreed at a June 23 meeting and the lanes were officially opened last week.

After opening, motorists, buses and ambulances battled “gridlock” with vehicles at a near standstill during peak hours.

Brighton and Hove Buses was forced to divert services, the AA warned drivers of delays on all approaches to the Aquarium roundabout and video appeared to show an ambulance struggling through traffic.

At the time, the council said it was aware of congestion along sections of the A23 and A259 and urged motorists “to consider whether they could make their journey in a different way”.

The rest of the cycle lane will remain and a bid has been submitted to the Government to extend to the city’s western boundary.