Wednesday, 23 May 2012 15:17

A group of cyclists from the Brighton Mitre Cycling Club have been the first to travel the newly resurfaced Upper Beacon Road at Ditchling Beacon this Friday (18/05/12) after improvement work was completed in time for the London to Brighton bike ride.

The Highways team resurfaced over 1400 metres of road from the top of Ditching Beacon down toward Ditchling Village. This work is part of the County Council’s three-year programme of road resurfacing to improve the condition of the roads and improve road safety across the county.

The work at Ditchling Beacon took five days to complete and was made difficult because of the steep, narrow, twisty nature of the road and the famous staging 'humps' that were carefully preserved. Lorries delivering the tarmac had to reverse uphill too and only one element of the work could be carried out at a time.

The road had to be closed whilst work took place with diversion routes for traffic travelling both ways, but when the road reopened on Friday members of the Brighton Mitre cycling club were the first to use it, rapidly descending the newly tarmacced road before making a steady climb back up the hill.

The climb up Ditchling Beacon is the final hurdle for thousands of cyclists on the annual London to Brighton cycle ride each June and attracts cycling enthusiasts from across the country. The improvement works were carefully timed to ensure the works were carried out before this year’s event and to improve road safety on what is a notoriously steep and narrow section of road.

Simon Hughes, Assistant Chief Executive of the County Council and keen cyclist said: “When I heard that this work was taking place, I knew that members of our cycling group would be keen to be the first to use the newly surfaced road. We were most impressed with the smooth ride and, as a cyclist myself, I know the importance of this work to improve road safety. I would like to thank all those who worked on the road and who continue to improve the roads across East Sussex.”

Councillor Carl Maynard, Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment at ESCC said "Over the years there have been numerous requests to resurface this famous stretch of road and I am pleased that we have been able to get this work done. The recent cold winters have taken their toll on many of the county's roads and the County Council is investing nearly £30 million over three years to improve the condition of our roads for all users."