From Monday evening Island Roads are planning to start work on resurfacing a 1.4 kilometre stretch of Cowleaze Hill (A3055) between Luccombe Chine House and Church Road. The road will be closed overnight as the work takes place.
Why this road?
Ventnor dwellers are regular users of this road and like us, they were surprised to hear of the resurfacing – and got in touch.
Having driven over many other roads on the Island whose road surfaces are in much worse condition, we asked Island Roads what had led to this road being chosen over other more obvious candidates.
“Underlying sub-structure”
A spokesperson for the company told OnTheWight,
“The scheduling of work is primarily determined by the road condition – not just the visible surface condition but also the underlying sub-structure – together with the availability of diversion routes, traffic flow, usage, events and other factors such as utility works.
The Highways PFI contract also requires us to upgrade the roads at an equal pace across all road types (hierarchies) and districts.”
Following up
Ask most people and they’d say it would seem to make sense to resurface to the roads that have broken road surfaces – ones that are uncomfortable to drive on (and potentially dangerous too) for Islanders and Visitors, rather than ones that might have issues with “underlying sub-structure”.
OnTheWight has asked a couple of follow up questions to Island Roads to clarify what their policy is. We’ve also asked the council what their understanding is too.
Closure times and Diversion
The road will be closed 7.30pm – 6.30am during the overnight works between 6th and 14th July, with the road re-opened outside of these times
The diversion route during work will be A3055 Leeson Road, B3327 St Boniface Road, Mitchell Avenue, Ocean View Road, Newport Road, Clarence Road, High Street and St Johns Road, A3020 Godshill Road and Victoria Avenue, A3055 High Street and Church Road.
Image: © Google Streetview
