41313 overhaul at East Somerset for IOWSR

A tunnel is what is being discussed. More info can be found about the proposal, here:http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/our-reg...unnel-between-isle-of-wight-and-m27-1-7969955

 

All this really proves that WIBN fatuousness is not confined to railway projects. Can you just imagine what the charges would have to be in order to service the capital costs.

PH

 

it says in the article "
‘The scheme has the potential to be largely self-funding and the benefits to the island are enormous with the impacts and benefits on the mainland side easily as large.’

 

..... and back in the mid fifties, nuclear energy was going to give us all electricity so cheap that it wouldn't be worth billing us for it.

Call me a cynic .......

 

Charge £1.00 more than the ferry fare and the tunnel would be nearly empty. Charge £1.00 less than the ferries per journey and Whitelink and Red Funnel would be in serious trouble...
A fixed link is probably desirable for the economy of the Isle of Wight, but the Island isn't equipped to cope with the extra trade....

Cheers, Neil

 

The IoW is seen as part of the affluent South-East, so is unlikely to attract any subsidy for either its ferries or an alternative fixed link. To be fair to the ferry companies, they do provide an all year round service, which may not be a money-spinner in January. That said, they are expensive; perhaps giving concessions for hospital trips would make them some friends.

John

 

Yes, and remind me, when is the debt on the Mersey tunnels going to be paid off? 2048 was the latest projection I saw...
And that's for a region with a dense population and lots of people (like me until recently) whose families live both sides of the river.

 

the impression I get is that the IOW is potentially in the affluent South but hampered by inadequate transport. With major conurbations of Portsmouth, Southampton and Bournemouth a stones throw away, a tunnel or bridge would transform the Island. Some might say not for the best I guess.

 

The Isle of Wight affluent? Perhaps for those in god's waiting room, but for the rest ..... Shangri-la, sure as hell, it ain't!

 

I can see benefit in trade over here, BUT unless there is a monumental road-building project to allow for the impact of the anticipated numbers of vehicles it would just grid-lock the island. Try travelling from Newport to Ryde on any summers day and you will see how close to full road capacity we are over here, and thats with the ferry companies fares putting so many would be visitors off.

 

I can imagine that might be the case.

 

Have local attitudes towards a fixed link to the IoW really changed, or is this just the latest round of the periodically aired grand schemes of promoters? Even mentioning "the T word" has traditionally been enough to see the offender(s) driven off Ryde Pier at the end of a sharpened pitchfork, whether or not there was a ferry waiting.

Knowing whether traditional local antagonism has mellowed, or a younger generation of islander hold a different view to the older population would be telling, always assuming anyone has actually bothered asking the residents for their views!

 

It is a bit like Marmite, love it or hate it. I would support a fixed link if I thought that the Island could cope with the increased visitor numbers that it would inevitably bring. Another fear is that even more homes would become be turned into 2nd homes. Many parts of the Island are quite affluent but their is an underlying trend for the young to have little or no hope for their futures.

 

This was very noticable on business trips to the island 20 years ago. It also seemed to me that many retirees were 'overners' with many of those able to enjoy an independent existence demonstrating little connection to, or interest in the working population beyond preserving their own bucolic idyll (and who I'd differentiate from those in need of the more supported levels of residential care, for whom location is less of a consideration than support to hand). If that sounds a bit jaundiced, that's because I can only report what I observed first hand.

 

So you want a fixed link but no more cars on the island... how about a foot tunnel? ;-)

 

I don't know b ut I'd assume property is cheaper on the island.

 

Or a rail tunnel. With a direct link to the steam railway.

 

You'd need a squirrel proof design. Of course, a railway tunnel or a cable car would serve to keep cars at bay ..... for a price!

 

Cheaper than Brighton (as is everywhere other than London and Sandbanks!). Just had a quick butcher's at prices in Shanklin and Freshwater, as the polar opposites on the island:
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/Shanklin.html
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/Freshwater.html

 

I do want a fixed link, but many of our roads are singe track and even the main routes were tarmacked with little in the way of hard core and just simply cannot cope with more than horse and cart

The Island is idyllic in so many ways but suffers through lack of investment in the future. As Howard has hinted many Island born people are set in their ways and do not want change any change.