A multi-million pound bypass near Eastbourne will be opened this week after two years in construction.

Civic leaders, including Eastbourne Mayor Olive Woodall, will be among guests attending the long-awaited opening of the A27 Polegate bypass on Wednesday.

Its completion will be greeted with delight by Polegate residents who have had to endure round-the-clock building work.

Work on the 2.5km dual carriageway, which cost £24 million, started in the summer of 2000.

Highways Agency officials predicted an 18-month completion of the scheme, which runs from the A22 at Cophall Farm to the western end of the Pevensey bypass at Dittons.

The new A22 will carry the majority of traffic from the A27 at Polegate into Eastbourne along a 2km stretch of dual carriageway on to Willingdon Drove.

Traffic heading for the town centre and areas west of Eastbourne will be directed along Cross Levels Way.

Drivers heading for the seafront and areas east of Eastbourne will be directed along Lottbridge Drove.

Flooding and the foot-and-mouth crisis led to the scheme over-running.

Bats were discovered living nearby and an archaeological dig uncovered remains of a small medieval house.