We are based in Battle, East Sussex, which is very close to the new Hastings to Bexhill Link Road, which will be opening to traffic in Autumn 2015. The single carriageway road will link the outskirts of Bexhill and Hastings, easing congestion, and improving air quality on the busy coastal A259. It is also hoped that the road will help to regenerate the area’s economy.
It will be 5.6km long and will run along the line of the disused Bexhill to Crowhurst railway line and then pass along the northern side of the Combe Haven Site of Special Scientific Interest. Crossing Crowhurst Road and the Hastings to London railway line, it goes round the southern edge of the Marline Valley Woods SSSI before joining Queensway just north of Crowhurst Road.
The road has attracted controversy from environmental campaigners, and the opening has been delayed from original plans, but it is now almost complete and about to be opened officially to road users.
You have a chance to see the road and its surroundings before it is officially opened to traffic, if you sign up to the upcoming ‘Bexhill to Hastings Link Road 10K (BHLR10k), which is taking place on Sunday 20th September at 10.30am, in aid of Bexhill and Hastings Lions Clubs for the Community. It costs £16 for a licensed club runner to enter, and £18 for an unlicensed runner. Every finisher will receive a unique ‘Brass Memento’.
The historic one-off run is being billed as ‘run through time and cover 10, 000 years of history over 10, 000 metres’ as the archaeological investigations carried out in advance of the construction of the BHLR have revealed evidence for occupation of this landscape over ten thousand years since the end of the last Ice Age.
More than 200 lithic artefact scatter sites, comprising in the region of 500, 000 struck flints were identified and excavated, with evidence for at least one structure as well as pits and hearths, showing how hunter-gatherers lived in the area for over six-thousand years as the climate and environment changed.
Read more about the findings of the archaeological evidence that was unearthed in the construction by looking at the Bexhill Hastings Link Road Archaeology Summary and the Sussex Timeline.
It will be a fascinating experience to be able to run the course for the race, and take a first look at the road before it opens to traffic, whilst achieving the personal achievement of running a 10K (6 miles) at the same time.
If you do join a few of the In Situ SI team, and take part in the run, we hope you have a great run and conquer the course successfully
