Council stays tight-lipped on Bexhill to Hastings Link Road opening

Hundreds of amateur runners will be pounding the tarmac of the new highway connecting Bexhill and Hastings.

The date for the one-off Bexhill to Hastings Link Road 10k race has been set for September 20, prompting speculation that the official opening of the road is not far behind.

However, East Sussex County Council has still refused to set an opening date, although the local authority has said the road will be open to traffic this autumn.

But a spokesperson for the local authority did confirm that the road was “near completion”.

The Link Road was scheduled to open in May this year.

But in December 2014 the council blamed a wet winter and sodden summer for hampering work on the £113m project.

The authority has refused to set a new opening date since.

Earlier in the year a Bexhill man approached the Observer to say that BHLR contractors had told him to expect a December opening.

But once again the council refused to confirm or deny the rumours.

Speaking about the forthcoming race, Cllr Carl Maynard, East Sussex County Council lead member for transport and environment, said: “It’s very exciting to see the Link Road nearing completion after all the hard work that’s gone into this scheme.

“The 10k race will give people a one-off chance to follow the entire course of the new road on foot, before it opens to motor traffic.

“The run is another significant event in the progress of a project which will have huge and lasting benefits to Hastings, Bexhill and East Sussex as a whole.”

The council maintains the new Link Road will bring 2,000 new homes, 3,000 new jobs and more than £1 billion of economic benefits to the area.

It says it will also relieve the high level of traffic congestion on the A259 between Bexhill and Hastings and on other local roads.

But there has been vocal opposition to the road, not least from the Combe Haven Defenders.

When construction work began on the road in December 2012, protestors took to the treetops to express their anger.

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