Jubilation over the long awaited opening of the A23 third lane is all very well if your journey ends in Crawley. But if you are headed further north, then there is something you need to know. The BBC reports that “repairs to a corroded bridge have been causing traffic tailbacks of up to seven miles on the M23 in Surrey and Sussex”. The Highways Agency describes the configuration of the current maze:

London bound traffic on the M23 junction 9 will be diverted onto the M23 coast bound via J9 on slip road heading south and then travel along the M23 Coast bound to the junction 10. The traffic will then be directed through the junction 10 onto the A264 east bound and traffic will travel along the A264 to the junction between A22 and A264, at the junction traffic will take the left turn onto the A22 North bound. The traffic will travel along the A22 to the M25 junction 6 where drivers can regain their intended route.

Disruption will last until the end of November as they patch up the decaying viaduct.

Updated 8th October.

Nick Herbert reports:

If party conferences can seem remote affairs to most people, this one had direct relevance to us in West Sussex when the Transport Secretary, in his speech, said: ‘Soon we’ll set out plans to improve vital congested roads like .. the A27’. The only other major roads he mentioned were the A1 in the north and the A303.