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_(2).JPG) A southward view along Lewes Road in 2019, looking towards the Vogue Gyratory | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Length | 3.46 mi (5.57 km) | |||
| Existed | 1770–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end | Southwick | |||
 A27 | ||||
| East end | Coldean | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United Kingdom | |||
| Road network | ||||
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Lewes Road is a major road in the English seaside city of Brighton and Hove. It was part of the A27 cross-country trunk route until the Brighton Bypass took this designation in the 1990s; since then it has been designated the A270.[1] The road runs northeastwards from central Brighton through a steep-sided valley, joining the A27 at the city boundary (formerly the borough boundary)[Note 1] and continuing to Lewes, the county town of East Sussex.
The road originated in the 18th century as an alternative to the ancient drove road across the South Downs which was much used by fishwives bringing fish caught in Brighton to the market in Lewes. Lewes Road was turnpiked in 1770, and urban development spread rapidly along the road from the early 19th century.
_(February_2020)_(4).JPG)
Most of the road is built up on both sides, and many important buildings flank the 3.46-mile (5.57 km) road: one of Brighton's largest churches, a former barracks, many university buildings, a major bus depot (formerly the hub of Brighton's tram operations), The Keep archive centre and a large supermarket. Proximity to Brighton and Sussex Universities makes the area a centre for student life and accommodation, and a major redevelopment scheme started in 2018 to provide more buildings and facilities for the University of Brighton.
The road is a key bus corridor, but the Kemp Town branch railway's Lewes Road station was short-lived and its infrastructure no longer survives. Lewes Road has been altered and modernised several times since World War II and is now a dual carriageway along most of its length. Bus lanes, cycle paths and the Vogue Gyratory—"a fiendish maze of one-way systems, roundabouts and crossings",[2] named after a pornographic cinema—add to the road's complexity.
- ^ "Case study: Improving Lewes Road in Brighton for buses, cyclists and pedestrians". gov.uk. Department for Transport. 27 March 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
- ^ Collis 2010, p. 356.
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