Riverside to Mews Lane Shared-Use Route
Dear resident. We are writing to inform you of a project beginning next week to upgrade the current footpath that runs between The Riverside Centre and Mews Lane. The scheme is part of the IW Council’s ongoing work to encourage greater use of cycling and walking by creating high quality shared-use paths. The project is being carried out by Island Roads using money the council has been awarded through the Government’s Active Travel 2 and Local Transport Plan programmes. The results of a survey carried out in January into what local people thought about the planned improvements was very encouraging with 84 percent of over 600 responses received being positive. In essence, the project will create a new, all-weather, shared-used path of approximately 1.2 kilometres long upgrading what is currently a largely gravel track between The Riverside Centre on Newport Harbour and Mews Lane. On much of the route, the new, more durable all-weather path, will be widened to create a safer environment for cyclists and pedestrians away from the busy main road. There will be new dropped kerb access points to the new shared-use path at two locations – Harvey Road and Halberry Lane - and gullies will also be installed at certain locations to help reduce the flooding to which the existing path is currently prone. Bollards that prevent vehicular use of the path will be maintained. Starting this week, it is anticipated the entire project will be completed in February next year though this schedule may be subject to change for various reasons not least because, in order to reduce the impact of work, we will be working through the winter when particularly inclement weather can be expected. In order to reduce disruption further and to keep as much of the existing route open for as long as possible, the work will be undertaken in four phases. These are: Phase One - between Mews Lane and Halberry Lane. Phase Two - between Halberry Lane and Gordon Road. Phase Three - between Gordon Road and the junction of St Paul’s View/Victoria Road. Phase 4 – St Paul’s View/Victoria Road to The Riverside Centre. Please note that there may be some overlap in work between phases. We will write to residents again ahead of work commencing on each of these phases to explain more about what is involved. Phase One Phase One is the longest phase both in terms of the length of track to be upgraded and, consequently the time it will take to complete. We anticipate work on this section will last approximately six weeks but, as per the above, the schedule can be affected by bad weather and this section is historically the most likely to suffer from flooding. We have decided to start with this phase because we are able to do so without impacting on the Isle of Wight Festival as the section is not a route used by those attending the event. Furthermore, the Riverside Centre (at the other end of the scheme) have asked us not to undertake work on the final section adjacent their building prior to Christmas. We do not anticipate work in Phase One – nor indeed on the remaining phases – to have any significant impact on traffic using Fairlee Road. However for several nights towards the end of the phase, it will be necessary to install traffic lights on Fairlee Road at the junction with Mews Lane in order to facilitate drainage and resurfacing work. These traffic lights will only be in operation at night however and traffic will be unrestricted during the day We hope you find this information helpful. We are very keen to work with the local community so if you have any questions then please contact us via 822440 or via info@islandroads.com. We will continue to keep you updated as appropriate during this project
