A: We are currently consulting with highway authorities about the works that will need to be carried out on any surrounding roads as part of our plans. We are proposing to create a new entrance and exit to correspond with the new location of our main marshalling yard on Castle Street, including local modifications to the Dover Road roundabout to help large vehicles manoeuvre this section of road. We will also provide a new terminal drop-off point on site and electronic signs leading up to check-in and out of town to help manage traffic flow.

We also want to help improve connectivity and wider accessibility to our port and the waterfront, so we are proposing a layby for up to two buses along Link Road to better serve foot passengers and provide easy access from the terminal building to the town centre, as well as wider island connections. In addition, we are discussing with the highway authority opportunities to enhance facilities for pedestrians along Old Road in the area immediately adjacent to the local schools, such as a wider pedestrian walkway, to help further improve accessibility.

We would also like to include an improved cycle route along the east of Castle Street (alongside Waitrose) in line with the aspirations of the East Cowes LCWIP.

A: Congestion primarily occurs on busy days when ferry traffic is required to check-in via Phoenix yard and share the limited road space in the town centre, with other users including the floating bridge traffic.

The revised proposals retain the key principles established with the 2006 East Cowes Regeneration Masterplan and 2017 consented scheme of removing ferry traffic from the town centre. In future, embarking and disembarking ferry traffic will use Well Road rather than lower York Avenue, avoiding any need to travel through the town centre. Access to check-in for ferry traffic will be automated and simplified, removing the existing confusion and conflicts with access to the floating bridge and other users of the town centre.

The yard capacity has been increased to ensure that space is available to accommodate early arrivals and high-volume days, such as the Isle of Wight Festival. Combined with the use of advanced check-in and lane allocation technology, as well as the provision of additional check-in booths, this will ensure that waiting at check-in is significantly reduced and the need for queuing on the local roads is removed, even on busy days.

Increased space within the marshalling yard and changes to the linkspan configuration will also allow simultaneous disembarkation and embarkation, speeding up the changeover and improving service reliability. The additional space will also allow disembarking traffic to queue on site prior to exiting onto the public highway. This will limit delays during disembarkation and improve service reliability regardless of any other delays on the public highway, including negotiating the Dover Road roundabout and the signalised pedestrian crossing opposite Waitrose.

The location of the terminal building nearer the town centre will improve accessibility for foot passengers by removing the need to interact with ferry traffic. The removal of ferry traffic away from the town centre roads will also benefit existing users and residents by improving access to the town.

A: We are finalising a detailed Transport Assessment Plan as part of our planning application, which will address any issues with congestion and delays as a result of the proposals. However, we know from previous analysis that the combination of revised check-in arrangements, and the provision of internal queuing on site for disembarking traffic, will fully remove queuing ferry traffic on the local roads.

Priority for drivers along Castle Street wishing to access Waitrose will remain, with disembarking traffic having to give way prior to exiting the yard. The only time that some minimal delay may occur when exiting Waitrose towards the Dover Road roundabout will be when the ferry disembarks. However, with no need to give way to Dover Road traffic (which will be closed), the Castle Street/Well Road corridor will effectively operate as free-flow and queuing at the roundabout approach would be limited, if any.

A: Only disembarking traffic will use the proposed new cross-road with Waitrose and this will be designed in accordance with highway design standards to ensure it can accommodate all vehicles turning right out of the junction. 

A: We understand that any use of Old Road by ferry-related traffic is a particularly key concern for residents, so we have been carrying out thorough traffic surveys to understand how vehicles travelling on our ferries are using Old Road. Our surveys have shown that, on average, only two disembarking vehicles per crossing were found to turn left at the Dover Road roundabout, which then leads up to Old Road. We do not know if these vehicles made an onward journey to Old Road specifically, or stopped at Waitrose or the Esplanade, however, we fully understand the impact this has on the community and want to continue to reduce this number as much as possible. We’re also in discussion with Island Roads to improve pedestrian facilities and explore further traffic calming measures on Old Road.

More widely, our proposals will improve the efficiency of ferry traffic moving around the town and specifically remove the need for long queues on the approaches and exit roads. This will ensure that the alternative of rat-running through Old Road becomes redundant.

In addition, our designs have been created to ensure any use of Old Road from ferry-related traffic is minimised as much as possible. As Castle Street and Old Road are public roads, we are not in a position to ban left turns and are mindful that local residents and customers of Red Funnel may still wish to go home via the most appropriate route.  However, the exit junction onto Castle Street has been carefully designed to limit the ability for traffic to turn left and prevent large vehicles (such as HGVs) from turning left.  Explicit signage will make it clear that all through traffic will be required to turn right.  

Similarly, there will be clear signage from York Avenue to direct ferry traffic to the new check-in off Castle Street.  Embarking traffic arrives in smaller platoons up to an hour before their crossing and, with the improved check-in arrangements, we do not expect any queuing on Castle Street to occur, even on busy days. Access to Waitrose via Well Road will therefore remain unaffected and the need for local customers of the store to use Old Road to avoid the roundabout will disappear.

We will also consider additional management measures as part of the Terminal Operations Plan to prevent any use of Old Road, including advance real-time signs and traffic signal management.

A: The design of the exit junction onto Castle Street will prevent and limit ferry traffic turning left, and it will not be physically possible for large vehicles (such as HGVs and caravans) to turn left. 

This will be complemented by clear signage for all ferry traffic to arrive and exit via Well Road. We will consider additional management measures as part of the Terminal Operations Plan to prevent ferry-related traffic using Old Road, including advance real-time signs and traffic signal management.

A: We will communicate with the chain ferry throughout the project, but there will be no changes to this service during or after the project.  In fact, removing ferry traffic to Red Funnel services away from Ferry Road will improve accessibility to the floating bridge.