Four months of roadworks to come at Vogue Gyratory in Brighton
Work is due to start on a new road layout at the Vogue Gyratory in Brighton in the late spring or early summer.
The work is expected to take about four months to complete and is intended to make the junction safer and simpler.
Members of Brighton and Hove City Council were told yesterday (Tuesday 14 January) that before work could start, traffic regulation orders (TROs) would have be published.
This would give people a chance to object to details of the £600,000 scheme should they wish.
The scheme is a revised version of one brought before councillors in 2012 when the bus and cycle lanes in Lewes Road were approved.
But concerns were expressed at the time about the proposals for the Vogue Gyratory and traffic heading to the junction from the south.
Among the concerns were the entry and exit to the car park for the Lewes Road Sainsbury’s supermarket.
Yesterday the council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee agreed the revised proposals at a meeting at Hove Town Hall.
The council said: “The changes have been particularly designed to protect pedestrians and cyclists while maintaining traffic flows.
“This revised scheme was designed after computer modelling showed that initial proposals last year would have delayed traffic too much.”
The council said that the main features were
- A continuous two-metre wide northbound cycle lane through the Vogue Gyratory system. A southbound lane already exists.
- Introduction of a new-style “floating bus stop” with the cycle lane going behind, like others on the new Lewes Road scheme. These prevent buses having to cross the path of bikes. It will also mean that the number 25 bendy buses can call at this stop for the first time.
- Raised pavements across the entrance to Sainsbury’s car park, giving pedestrians priority over cars coming out. Previously emerging cars blocked pavements for pedestrians.
- Creating more space at the entrances and exits to the Gyratory, giving more room for cycles and vehicles to move through the junction without coming into conflict or causing delay.
- Simplified pedestrian crossings
- Replacement traffic signals to improve efficiency and traffic flow
- Advanced green traffic lights for cyclists heading north, giving a three-second headstart to bikes to reduce conflict.
Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee chairman Councillor Pete West said: “There’s no easy or ideal way to improve this junction.
“But the new scheme does make things better for everyone, however they choose to travel.
“Rather like the Seven Dials junction, the aim is to make the junction simpler to understand, thereby making it safer.
“These improvements will provide the finishing touches to the Lewes Road scheme which is successfully increasing bus travel and cycling without appreciably delaying cars.
“There may be some disruption during the works for which we apologise in advance.”
