A3054

Route

The A3054 is the northern section of the Isle of Wight's 'Ring Road'.

Totland - Newport

The road starts in Totland, in the westernmost corner of the island, at a roundabout where all four roads joining have different numbers. Apart from an unclassified residential road we also meet the short B3322 and the A3055 which forms the majority of the 'Ring Road' and which we will meet again at the far end of both routes.

Yar Bridge

The A3054 heads northeastwards and soon reaches open country. However, as is normal for the Isle of Wight, although rural sections of road are frequent, they do not last too long. We skirt the side of a hill, with the sea invisible over the top of the ridge, before descending through the village of Norton. We bend sharply to the right within what seems like yards from the sea and turn slightly inland to cross the coastal marshes and then a narrow swing bridge over the River Yar to enter Yarmouth. After passing the turn for the Lymington ferries we turn sharply right at a roundabout to bypass the town centre (the original route of the road followed the narrow - and now one-way - High Street.

Old and new roads rejoin and the road runs along the shore (with mainland England visible across the Solent on good days) for about half a mile, with the B3401 turning inland halfway along the section. The A3054 then turns inland itself and heads more-or-less eastwards along a flat but not particularly straight road. The largest village on this section is Shalfleet, where the road narrows to S1 to cross a small stream and then takes its time widening again. Flow here is controlled by traffic lights so there may be some delay in busy periods.

After a couple of sharpish bends the road crosses a few narrow valleys - with climbs in between across the ridges before reaching a dead-straight section of road lasting well over a mile. The road skirts Parkhurst Forest to reach Parkhurst itself, home of the island's prisons and main hospital. The A3020 is also met here; there is a one-way filter heading north but all other movements require a short section of road parallel to the A3020 and a roundabout. There is now a dual-carriageway multiplex along the Newport bypass and across the River Medina for about half a mile, ending at a set of traffic lights where the A3054 regains its number by turning left.

Newport - Ryde

The road heads eastwards for a short distance to another set of traffic lights where it is forced to turn left; the road to the right is a spur of the A3054 heading south to a gyratory on the A3020, carrying traffic heading to/from the south of the island. The road now heads northeast out of town and meets, unexpectedly, a short D1 section just before Medina College. After a couple of miles of open countryside the road bends to the right to reach a roundabout. The road to left appears to be a spur of the A3054, which morphs into the A3021 at the following crossroads. The reason for this is that the A3021 used to turn off at a junction to the west that no longer exists. A spur of the A3054 was created to serve traffic wanting to head east - and then when the original junction was removed the numbering did not change to reflect reality.

Elenors Grove

The A3054 continues along a dead-straight road due east, climbing up to Wootton and then descending to Wootton Bridge where it crosses Wootton Creek. After going through Kite Hill (climb, descent, climb) the short B3331 (for Fishbourne and, by ferry, Portsmouth) turns left at traffic lights. About a mile further on we reach the suburbs of Ryde. The road runs through Binstead then TOTSOs left at traffic lights into Queen's Road. It turns left at the next set of lights by the landmark All Saints Church into the one-way system in Ryde town centre.

Inbound traffic heads north along West Street then turns right into Lind Street. It meets the outbound route in St Thomas's Square, cannoning off it by bearing left into Union Street. The sea is now clearly visible ahead and the road ends at a half-roundabout on the A3055 just by the pier. That road now continues east along the Esplanade as an intermittent dual carriageway. One block east - and only accessible westbound - the outbound A3054 leaves the A3055. It heads south along George Street and turns sharply right into Cross Street to return to St Thomas's Square. Here it bears left into the High Street before zigzagging through the back streets to return to the traffic lights by All Saints Church, where the road becomes two-way out of town.

History

The A3054 came into being in the mid-1920s when the majority of the B3322 (from Totland to Newport) was upgraded to Class I status, leaving that road as just a short spur toward the Needles. In 1935 the A3022 from Newport to Ryde was renumbered as an eastern extension of the A3054, giving the road its current route across the island.