Improvements to Western Road
Our improvements to Western Road are designed to make the street a more attractive place to shop and spend time in. It will also make it easier for people travelling through and allow us to complete essential maintenance.
When construction is happening
We’ll be working on the junction of Western Road and Dyke Road from January until summer 2024.
Most work between Montpelier Road and Regent Hill is now complete. Minor work to complete street lighting and install street furniture will continue.
No more closures of Western Road are planned until the summer of 2024. This will be to complete the resurfacing between Regent Hill and North Street.
The first 4 bus shelters will be replaced between 12 February and 8 March. The contractor will work on one shelter at a time to reduce disruption. Some bus services will use different stops during this time. Please see the information provided at bus stops.
The rest of the bus shelters will be replaced later this year.
All dates are subject to the progress of work and weather permitting.
Dyke Road southbound closure
From 3 January, work began between Dyke Road and the Clock Tower. During this time, we'll need to close the southbound bus lane on Dyke Road. This is because of restricted space at the junction and the need to keep buses and other traffic moving.
The closure will last until summer 2024. Buses will be diverted from Brighton Station down Queens Road.
Northbound traffic on Dyke Road, including buses, as well as traffic using Western Road will be unaffected.
To complete work at Regent Hill, we'll need to close this for 5 weeks. This work is planned to follow the work at Dyke Road in the summer of 2024. We'll provide more details to those affected closer to the time.
During this time, buses that usually use Regent Hill will be diverted via Seven Dials. These will be empty buses as they are at the end of their journey. Buses using Western Road will run as normal.
Other than for the overnight resurfacing, no further closures or diversions are planned elsewhere.
For more information on buses, you can:
- view bus service updates on the Brighton & Hove Buses website
- view the timetable for the 700 service on the Stagecoach website
What we're doing
The council’s Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee approved the changes in July 2021.
The changes include:
- a resurfaced road
- resurfaced and tidier pavements
- a simpler road layout with a central area to help with crossing for pedestrians
- more cycle parking, seating, and tree planting
- new street lighting
Changes at Dyke Road and Queen Square junction
The changes also include redesigning the Dyke Road junction with Western Road. We'll remove the traffic lights and make Dyke Road a priority (give way) junction. We’ll keep traffic light crossings for pedestrians on Western Road.
This change will reduce waiting time for pedestrians at the Clock Tower. Access to Queen Square will be via Dyke Road. Only buses, taxis and cyclists will be able to use North Street.
The images below show what the changes to traffic routes will be once work is complete.
Traffic will no longer be able to go from West Street to Dyke Road. Before work started, access to Queen Square was to and from North Street. When work is finished, access to Queen Square will be to and from Dyke Road instead.
Taxis will still be able to go in both directions, although there will be some temporary restrictions during the construction period.
Download a plan of the changes at Dyke Road.
How we've funded the changes
Funding has come from the Department of Transport after we successfully applied for their:
- Active Travel Fund
- Highway Maintenance Challenge Fund
- Bus Service Improvement Plan
Our Carbon Neutral Fund is also funding parts of the project like cycling infrastructure and tree planting.
Our consultation
We held a public consultation about the changes to Western Road in the spring of 2021. We also consulted on the proposals for other active travel schemes across the city. Find out more about the consultation.
To make changes to the Dyke Road junction we also had to make changes to the Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO). The changes were advertised and agreed on in October 2021.
We advertised a further TRO in December 2022 for minor amendments to loading areas. It also proposed allowing 2-way cycling on surrounding 1-way streets.
Following feedback from residents, we're not planning to introduce 2-way cycling on most streets at this stage. However, Castle Street, Marlborough Street and Spring Street will be opened to cyclists at their junctions with Western Road.
Find more about the TRO consultation on our TRO page.
The reference numbers are:
- TRO-23a-2021
- TRO-23b-2021
- TRO-34a-2022
- TRO-34b-2022
- TRO-34c-2022
More information
If you have any questions about the project, send an email to transport.projects@brighton-hove.gov.uk.