The first new scheme in the government's near �2bn programme of improvements for major roads is opening on Wednesday.

Highways Agency chief executive Tim Matthews will cut the tape on a �17.2m bypass for Polegate, near Eastbourne in East Sussex.

The 1.5-mile bypass will relieve the town of the congestion, danger, noise and smell of heavy A27 through traffic.

This is the first of 53 major improvements to the motorway and trunk road network in England to be completed by the Highways Agency.

Bridge building

The Polegate scheme links with a major improvement to the A22 built by East Sussex County Council, which, it is hoped, will help regenerate Eastbourne.

It will be followed in two months' time by the opening of a �75m dual carriageway improvement along the A43 north of the M40, which includes a bypass for the British Grand Prix venue of Silverstone in Northamptonshire.

The agency has a further 20 major roads under construction, including a �53m improvement for access to the docks in Hull, and major bypasses for Bingley and Selby in Yorkshire.

The agency also expects this summer to open the new bridge across the River Medway in Kent as part of the �124m widening of the A2 between London and the south coast.

By 2007, work will either have been completed, or be substantially under way, on all 53 schemes.