WEST Sussex County Council has detailed which Covid bike lanes will be removed following complaints over congestion and low use.
Almost 20km of government-funded cycleways will be deconstructed in Crawley, East Grinstead, Horsham, Shoreham and Worthing after receiving negative feedback from road-users.
These are the bike lanes which will be removed:
A286 Chichester ring road (2km)
A259 Bognor Regis to Chichester (5km)
A24 Worthing (2.9km)
Three Bridges to Manor Royal, Crawley and Pound Hill to Crawley town centre (4.5km)
Upper Shoreham Road, Shoreham (2.7km)
A281/B2237 Horsham Ring Road (0.9km)
A22 East Grinstead (1.7km)
West Sussex County Council launched a consultation on the future of the lanes and, last month, encouraged people to use them if they wanted them to stay.
But, yesterday, the council announced all lanes in Crawley, East Grinstead, Horsham, Shoreham and Worthing will be removed after the results of the consultation were overwhelmingly negative.
A council spokesman said: "The impact of the schemes has been monitored during their operation.
"Feedback showed the majority of responses were opposed to the cycleways, citing increased congestion as a key issue.
"Automatic traffic counters also indicated relatively low usage by cyclists in comparison with other traffic."
These are the exact stretches of each road which the cycle lanes will be removed from:
1. A286 Chichester ring road (2km)
This stretch starts at St Richard's Hospital in Spitalfield Lane and ends at Southgate.
Lane one of the dual carriageway was reallocated to provide lightly segregated cycle lanes in each direction.
2. A259 Bognor Regis to Chichester (5km)
This stretch starts at Babsham Lane in Bognor and ends on the A27 Chichester Bypass.
3. A24 Worthing (2.9km)
This stretch starts on the A27 at the Grove Lodge Roundabout, and ends at Union Place.
Lane one of the dual carriageway was reallocated to provide lightly segregated cycle lanes in each direction.
4. Three Bridges to Manor Royal, Crawley (1) and Pound Hill to Crawley town centre (2) (4.5km)
The first stretch starts at Three Bridges Station and ends at the crossing north of Bycroft Way.
This involved a protected on-carriageway cycle lane, connecting with the existing National Cycle Network 21 route.
The second stretch is between Balcombe Road and Southgate Avenue.
This involved a protected on-carriageway cycle lane.
5. Upper Shoreham Road, Shoreham (2.7km)
This starts on the A283 and ends at the Holmbush roundabout.
It involved a "light segregation using traffic delineator posts will be provided on Upper Shoreham Road".
6. A281/B2237 Horsham Ring Road (0.9km)
This starts on the B2237 Worthing Road and end at Madeira Avenue.
One lane of the road was reallocated to become a cycle lane on the north/eastbound carriageway.
7. A22 East Grinstead (1.7km)
This stretch started at the county boundary with Surrey and ended at Maypole Road.
On the removal of the cycle lanes, West Sussex County Council cabinet member for highways and infrastructure Roger Elkins said: "The schemes fulfilled their main objectives of offering people dedicated space to cycle rather than using public transport, or to leave the car at home and use their bike instead.
"This was in response to the unique set of circumstances during the first national lockdown, including schools and colleges having been closed for months and vastly-reduced public transport capacity.
“The extraordinary environment that led to their installation no longer exists even though we are about to enter into a new national lockdown.
"Schools and colleges are open, traffic volumes have increased and, although public transport capacity is not back to pre-March levels, it is significantly improved.
"The data gathered and the experience of providing these cycleways will help us when delivering future schemes."
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