Transport Minister John Spellar could not make it to the opening of a new £1 million subway today after he was called to an urgent meeting.

He was due to officially open the new A27 underpass which links the universities of Sussex and Brighton.

Highways Agency route manager Ing Fischer and University of Sussex vice chancellor Alasdair Smith, who performed the opening ceremony in Mr Spellar's place, welcomed the first people to use the subway.

The larger subway offers a safe route for students and local people to walk or cycle under the A27 to the universities' Falmer campuses.

The tunnel provides access to bus stops and the train station and has CCTV and good lighting.

It replaces the old walkway 30m away, which was built in 1965 and was found to be structurally weak after an assessment in 1991.

Mr Fischer said: "The new subway is a real benefit to the local community, providing a safe alternative from crossing the A27 and improved links with local public transport.

"It has the latest technology built in. By improving access to the bus and rail systems, the subway is also making a real contribution to integration of public transport."

Mr Smith hoped the walkway will be one of a series of measures to improve access to the site.

He said: "This can be thought of as part of a redevelopment of the entire campus and it is important to us that it was built to the highest quality.

"We still have quite serious problems with car access here and we are looking forward to working with the Highways Agency to efficiently solve these problems as we have done with this subway."

Residents living a few miles from the campus have been angered that the university has had a new subway built while another nearby is ignored.

The underpass at the bottom of Coldean Lane, Moulsecoomb, was closed after flooding in January and parents taking their children to nearby Coldean Primary School have to cross the busy A270.

They complained that unless something is done, the subway will continue to cause problems and an accident may happen.

Peter Cormode, South-East regional manager for the Highways Agency, who attended today's opening, said the Moulsecoomb walkway would be examined.

"This building work was driven because the old subway was structurally weak, so it had to be a priority."

"We are continuing to review all our structures and have an ongoing programme of upgrading so that area will be looked at for future work."