Problem road: Tell us about it!

That the A259 between Eastbourne and Hastings has been voted the ninth hardest road in the country to navigate will come as no surprise to anyone '“ driver or neighbour '“ who suffers it on a daily basis.

Rather, this road is a nasty surprise awaiting any unsuspecting visitor to the area who, having noted the insignificant mileage involved, calculates a journey time and arrives hopelessly late for an appointment having been ensnarled in near-gridlocked traffic.

It is a situation which has festered for more than a decade.

Each successive year brings still heavier traffic, still longer queues and still greater air pollution.

New rail rolling stock has provided a viable alternative for some travellers. But proposals such as a railway halt at Ravenside remain a pipe-dream and it would take major change in public transport to produce the swing away from car-dependency which would make any material difference.

Together with the grossly inadequate A21, failure to match the A259 to 21st Century needs has crippled hopes of economic regeneration locally.

Who would want to bring their business to an area where it is so difficult to move materials in or goods out and where appointments can be kept only at the expense of totally disproportionate journey times?

The last thing intending visitors want to do is spend part of the holiday stuck in an "Are we there yet...?" jam.

The wail of two-tone sirens adds to the dismal aspect this blighted piece of tarmac presents. With the Conquest Hospital at one end and Eastbourne District General at the other, crews of emergency vehicles battle their way through the congestion in a struggle that is constant by day and continues until late at night.

The casualty toll on the road itself should surely merit a major re-think about the immediate future.

There has been a particularly bloody start to 2008 with two motor cyclists dying on the A259 within days of each other.

How can major development like the North Bexhill Business Park and the Worsham "mini-town" be contemplated without FIRST creating the infrastructure needed to cope with it?

The Bexhill-Hastings Link Road is a not a traffic solution. It is merely a means of opening up the land behind the town and will create still more problems.