Cascade road closure sign for Tour of Britain

Tour of Britain Isle of Wight: Sat Nav systems could show rolling road closures as all day closures

This Sunday (11th September) sees the Isle of Wight host the final stage of this year’s Tour of Britain cycle race, starting from Ryde and finishing at the Needles Battery.

If you’re planning to drive around the Island at all on Sunday, please be aware that Sat Nav systems could incorrectly show the rolling road closures as all day closures.

System can’t distinguish rolling road closures
The problem is caused by the OneNetwork system not being able to distinguish the various road closures that are uploaded to it as rolling closures (most of which will only last 30 mins), so instead it shows the roads as closed all day.

As many vehicle and Sat Nav app navigation systems take their feed from OneNetwork it’s thought they could be confusing for drivers.

Check details first
Given the size of the course (around 148km) it could cause problems for those needing to travel around the Island for work.

The Isle of Wight council is therefore asking drivers to check the details of rolling road closures first (see below) and be guided by the signage that will be on the roadsides.

How rolling road closures work
The roads on and around the race route will be closed for a short period during the time it takes for the race to pass by.

This is usually 15 to 25 minutes before the lead riders arrive and is indicated by the police escort vehicles. 

For this short period, traffic will be stopped from entering and exiting the route area. After this time access and traffic will resume as normal.

Find out more about how rolling road closures work. The video below explains what happens.

This interactive map also shows the route of the entire race.

A list of all timings as well as affected streets can be found in the documents embedded below.