PRO-Link, the driving force behind a tunnel connecting the Isle of Wight to the mainland, have today (Friday) released their plans for a fixed link between Whippingham and Gosport.
At the end of 2014, before PRO-LINK was formed, Carl Feeney devised an initial tunnel route that spanned from Arreton to near the M27 on the mainland. The scheme brought the question of a Solent fixed link very much into the public domain, where it has been discussed extensively ever since.
Recent site visits both here and on the other side of the Solent have concluded the best areas for a ‘three portal’ tunnel scheme are directly from the M27 East of Whitley, to the coast at Lee-on-the-Solent and then on to Whippingham on the outskirts of East Cowes. The scheme would incorporate approximately 3kms of exposed surface road – all other construction would be subterranean.
If the tunnel was ever built then Islanders – and visitors – would be able to cross the Solent in just 6 minutes and within 9 minutes be merging onto the M27. This could mean journey times between the Island and Southampton are cut by as much as 2 hours, if not more.
The proposal for the northern element of the tunnel, connecting with the M27, is firmly dependent on the toll income derived from the Solent Freedom Tunnel element. Without that substantial toll income, it is presumed the construction costs of the northern tunnel to reduce existing land traffic, would make it unviable.
Both private and public funding is envisaged as the most likely way to pay for the project – two thirds and one third respectively. It is estimated that the Solent crossing element of the project will generate an annual revenue of circa £200million, with a further smaller amount of toll revenue (to be assessed) from the mainland element. This has the ability to raise two thirds of the circa £3billion of estimated build costs.
PRO-LINK say they are confident that more than £1billion of project regional economic regeneration benefits, increase tax revenue and healthcare savings, will be achieved to the UKPLC purse within just a few years of operation.
The next stage in the scheme is a viability study to ascertain certain criteria in order to understand whether the scheme is in fact viable. This will include how much will it cost to build and can it be paid for, using toll income and the regional economic benefits and revenues that it will create. Further information on this is expected to be released later this month.
More information about the scheme can be found at https://solentfreedomtunnel.co.uk/the-solent-freedom-tunnel-proposed-route/.
