At the last minute, and against all expectations, the Government dropped its support for the environmentally destructive scheme, as well as for the equally disastrous proposed Worthing bypass across the South Downs behind Cissbury Ring.
Arundel and South Downs MP Howard Flight was certainly caught by surprise, having sent out a statement to local press earlier in the week welcoming 'the Government announcement to proceed with a bypass for Arundel'.
The last week has seen a flurry of media interest in the Arundel protest camp at Tortington Common, with reports everywhere from BBC TV and Meridian to the Evening Argus, The Times and The Guardian.
A hint as to the reasons why the Government backed down in West Sussex, while ploughing ahead with road plans elsewhere in the country, came in a report on the Evening Standard website this morning (Wednesday).
Written before the announcement, and seemingly expecting the Arundel road to be given the green light, it added: "The Government will be desperate to avoid clashes with committed activists such as 'Swampy' - so-called 'king of the eco-warriors'. It is still nervous of provoking the kind of confrontations that created ugly scenes at Twyford Down and the Newbury bypass in the late nineties."
We've said it before and we'll say it again: direct action works