Another major traffic scheme, which is set to last 6 months right through the busy Summer season, will begin in Newport next week.
St George’s Way is to be extended to include a third lane to help improve traffic flow and prevent bottlenecks from occurring. The extended lanes will shorten queuing times, allowing more traffic to exit at Coppins Bridge during each cycle of the lights and at the Matalan roundabout, meaning less congestion.
The scheme will also see the upgrade of the pedestrian crossing at the entrance to Furrlongs and the introduction of a dropped kerb and tactile paving to assist those with mobility issues.
Motorists face significant disruption with a 24-hour one-way system in place. All traffic heading northbound will divert via Church Litten and South Street, with South Street becoming one-way from the Cineworld Complex roundabout. Traffic heading southbound will be able to use St George’s Way as usual, but for a time access to and from Furrlongs (Pan) will be closed.
Medina Avenue will be closed at its northern end for the duration of the works, but motorists will be able to divert locally via side roads.
The one-way restriction will be removed during the school summer holidays with all subsequent surfacing work being undertaken overnight.
Those travelling to and from Sandown face additional disruption over the next 6 weeks due to temporary traffic lights in Arreton, as previously reported by Island Echo.
Councillor Ian Ward, Cabinet member for transport and infrastructure, has said:
“Just as the St Mary’s work has reduced journey times at a busy junction to the north of Newport, then so will this work improve traffic flows to the south of the town.
“It is part of an ongoing programme of work to make the county town more accessible. And reducing traffic queues is good for motorists and better for the environment too.
“This is another example of the council, Island Roads and local contractors working successfully to deliver large-scale infrastructure projects that are of real benefit to the Island.”
Kevin Burton, Island Roads network manager said:
“The diversion route has been designed to maximise the use of the local strategic network with revised priorities introduced throughout the temporary gyratory and we should not see an increase in vehicles using residential streets.
“Nevertheless, it is impossible to undertake a scheme of this magnitude without causing some inconvenience so we would ask motorists, if possible, to avoid the area or to travel at quieter times of the day.”
Oh good, that is good news and now I can plan my next visit to Newport to be around mid September at the earliest. Thanks.
Just in time for the Isle of Wight Festival.
Will go to Morrison’s at Lake,Aldi’s at Lake,Lidl’s at Lake etc.,etc.,. The extra few miles will be well worth it. Home Bargains will still be across from fairlee up the bypass and down Forrest road and back route. Should have brought shares in Island Roads. Their making a bomb out of our council .
Wightfibre have roadworks in Arreton area until 9th April.
Hmmm improvement, that’s one word for it
If only someone had a tiny bit or foresight when this was done in the first place ,,, if only
would be nice if they finished the roads they started like wilton park road in Shanklin
The queues in St Georges Approach and The Litten will be horrendous, one hopes the bus stops presently in the Litten will be moved back into the bus station
Councillor Ian Ward. “Just as the St Mary’s work has reduced journey times at a busy junction to the north of Newport”
Whos he kidding, that junction is ruined. He should be a comedian, he’s so funny.
At least this scheme looks to be a good idea for once.
So, “motorists will be able to use the side streets as a diversion, but residents shouldn’t see any increase in traffic on the residential streets”.
What world do these people live in.
When they replaced a large, free-flowing roundabout with a stop/start traffic light system, it certainly did not reduce my journey time. And has anyone tried turning left out of Forest Road recently? Now there’s an accident waiting to happen!
At least there is work being done to improve traffic flow, but sometimes things have to get worse before they improve, the next road they need to tackle is from Medina High School through to the crematorium
Why the hell is it going to take 6 months to do this work? They should be working 24/7 on it. It is going to cause mayhem as all the traffic from Sandown, Shanklin, Ryde, East Cowes and Cowes will be forced to use Church Litten which is congested in normal times.
time we thought out of the box and had a Newport bypass
How are they going to make the road wider enough for 3 lorries or busses to pass
So already diverted through Whitwell as Wroxall is closed, delays through Arreton, now this….. anyone wanna pay my fuel bill?
at least island roads have done the carpark…shame rest of the roads are sxxt they have done / not done…. carparks easy to resurface….