Traffic is reported to be absolutely gridlocked in Ryde as a result of 2 ‘unexpected’ road closures this morning (Tuesday).
Queens Road has been closed to all traffic heading into Ryde from Binstead, whilst the adjacent Argyll Street has been closed to all traffic leaving Ryde. This has created a one-way system in the area, which is leading to significant delays. Traffic heading into Ryde is backed up to Fishbourne, according to reports.
The closures have come into force in the interests of safety during utility fibre optic installation works for Wight Fibre.
Local residents have complained that there has been no notice of the works, with no letter drops or advanced warning signs erected. The closure was however advised in this week’s official notices, as published by Island Echo each Friday at https://www.islandecho.co.uk/traffic-travel/.
The one-way system is expected to remain in force until Friday 8th November, or whenever the required work is completed.
Southern Vectis say that Routes 4, 9 and 37 are all delayed by up to 45 minutes. Local taxi drivers have also reported that they have had jobs cancelled due to the delays.
Those living in the Ryde area may also find their bins are collected later than normal today.
UPDATE @ 13:10 – Wight Fibre have apologised for any inconvenience caused today. They have confirmed that residents have been informed through letter drops alongside a 2-week official notice period.
Why is Wight fibre allowed to cause so many problems where other utilities get jumped on by island roads ?????
Exactly what I’ve been saying, who gave wight fibre the freedom to dig and disrupt where ever and when ever they want?
And when they have finished the pavements look like a horrible patchwork quilt! Looks lovely to Island visitors!
absolutely ridiculous they have dug top half ratcliffe avenue pavements up when the new tarmac was laid three month where is the logic in this and ryde roads are absolute joke today and will be for up to 3 weeks absolute chaos
MONEY MATE
Absolute joke it’s been non stop road works for months now ! Our only bus service in Haylands is No 37 which is an hourly service so what are we supposed to do when we rely on it , not knowing when & if it will arrive Our roads are being resurfaced then dug up the next week , surely someone in island roads need to talk to each other with the other utilities about what work needs to be done & do one road at a time ! Every where you go in & around Ryde there are roads closed & temporary lights please island roads/council or whoever it concerns SORT IT OUT give us back our buses & roads !!!! From a very angry Ryde /Haylands resident
ITS THE SAME ALL OVER THE IOW GET A TAXI ,CYCLE OR WALK LIKE THE REST
Some people are disabled or don’t we count, are our lives not disrupted enough, walk cycle taxi honestly man. If you want want to take that attitude then that’s your right but you have to surely agree it’s ridiculous
It’s time for a rethink on all these road closures and restrictions. The Island has apparently ground to a complete halt. The authorities need to come up with a co-ordinated plan which will allow life to continue as normal. Maybe they are trying to do too much in a day.
IR are paid by IWC to operate as the Highways Authority for the Island and licence these road works. It a force, we are paying for this mess.
Why can’t they do one road at a time. Nobody seems to take into account anymore the inconvenience to the normal public.
I was with mum taking her to Tesco. We live just past the Golf Course and because the lights just past the Golf club are operating as normal it thinks there is no traffic and only allows two to four cars through. Not only that but WIGHT FIBRE don’t seem to care as to how much road they take up for three people working. Absolute joke! and the council let it happen as it doesn’t matter for them as they are not inconvenienced, and to hell with residents, drivers, public transport and of course delivery drivers, taxi’s and last but not least people who need to go to work in Ryde. Also we had an ambulance struggling to get through on blue lights. Why can’t they just close one road at a time?
So down to this inept council who couldn’t run a market stall. Councillors: just remember this mayhem at election (no more expenses) time!.
Yes you are absolutely right. Too much fenced off, and I did not see anybody working. There is supposed to be three weeks of this, if they do not overrun.
Your article says “unexpected” closure, but then says the work was listed in your /traffic-travel/. There were certainly no advance warning boards in Queens Road on Saturday. It’s crazy to have Wightfibre works in Argyll Street and Queens Road at the same time and surely a better one way system would have been in via Queens Road and out via Argyll Street.
Money speaks louder than words.
Must be costing an absolute fortune to install. But they’ve worked out they’re make it back.
We’re disrubted whilst they laugh all the way to the bank
Everyone’s piling down Arthur Street if anything needs fixing it’s this road
And then you can’t turn right down Pellhurst Road, so where’s the way out of Ryde to Newport meant to be (Havenstreet is closed)
They can do the work at night I work off the island and over on the mainland most of road works are done from 8pm to 6am works well
That farce of a council again, blow the general public, the likes of you and me. Sack the lot, now
As usual no one at council takes any responsibility for continuing Farce of obstructive road works. I’m sure someone there must be getting a comfy salary package though.
I live in Argyll Street and we did not have anything saying when the work would commence
IWC has delegated its powers to IR who act as the Highways Authority on the Island. Any works on the Highway have to be licensed by them. They can add conditions like phasing of lights in favour of certain traffic flow, times of work IE night only etc. They should also consider what other road works are in the area and the impact on residents. I can’t see how Wightfibre work was unexpected??
This work is taking place where we had to endure seven weeks of delays because of the Traffic light installation – why could they not work together instead of digging up the same piece of road? It’s the same on Binstead Hill, five weeks running, the same junction dug up by different utilities. Brading to Shanklin possibly six separate road works?
The thing that really annoys me is we are paying IR for this service – to regulate work on our highways and they aren’t, they are taking our money and providing a totally inept service, no regulation, no control.
IWC should be ensuring that we are getting value for money by having regular scrutiny meetings with IR, monitoring performance and complaints to ensure we get a service comparable to the mainland – why aren’t they doing this?
First world problems to the Isle of Wight.
You wait west wighter when they start digging out there you wait ha ha
Well considering I don’t even live in the UK anymore…
Doesn’t bother me old me old bean, I’ll just leave a bit earlier so I get work on time!
No worries
No one has job in Ryde anyway, so what’s the problem!
Ahh rushing to get there early morning fix!
From the local dealer in Green street!!
West Wighter is a typical example of a wind up merchant, just looking to insult decent people.
It is unfortunate that people like this are allowed to express such inflammatory opinions.
Are you for real?
Vote Tory get chaos.
I’m sorry but its called dragging this rock into the twentieth century. Stop all the bloody moaning and let them get on with it. Its a couple of weeks of pain to help give ryde a service fit for the times we live in good on wight fibre I say
No problem with the work needing to be done but I do have a problem with the implementation and the lack of forethought and pre planning by IR – it’s the same across the island, they have the responsibility to issue the traffic orders for any work and they lack any professionalism whatsoever. If they did what they are paid for this could be avoided.
Some of us commute to work on the mainland and some of us missed connections, missed meetings, missed commitments. This is not cost effective. We were not warned.
why does Queens Road need to be one way when the pavements on both sides of the road are probably the widest in all of Ryde? There is plenty of room to dig a narrow trench for fibre optic cable without health and safety issues.
My friends live in Argyll street. They did not have any notice at all!. In fact they can’t even get their car out. I live in Binstead and we gave not seen any signs warning us. It took 30 mind Tuesday morning when it normally takes 10 mjns and I and others missed out hovercraft. We were not prepared, not warned.
But soon you will have a really fast connection to moan about it.
have you experienced their customer service? BT and TalkTalk are fantastic in comparison.
Mainland has Extinction Rebellion.