A3020

Route

The A3020 is a route running across the Isle of Wight from north to south.

Cowes - Shanklin

Beginning at the western end of the Cowes Chain Ferry, the A3020 heads north east along Medina Road to the bottom of Cowes town centre. The road curves east, becoming Mill Hill Road, and soon after turns left off Mill Hill Road onto Newport Road. The town centre can be cut off by the B3220 Bridge Road, but it is not signed as a short cut.

The road leaves town along Newport Road and passes the town's park and ride and the BAE Systems compound before meeting the B3325 at traffic lights; this road takes a longer route to get here from a different part of Cowes. The road skirts Northwood, a separate village, before a short rural section leads past the military museum and the road descends to Parkhurst. Parkhurst prison is hidden behind a hedge but the road passes the front of Albany prison just before the road duals and we leave the original route of the A3020 to move onto Medina Way, the relief road for Newport. The old road continued down Hunnyhill into the town centre before leaving along Medina Avenue.

The A3054 is met at a roundabout, beginning a short multiplex with the A3020 number dominant, where we skirt the edge of town and soon cross the River Medina. The A3054 now leaves to the east at traffic lights and then we recross the river and join a gyratory. This provides a second chance to join the A3054 and yet another crossing of the Medina, together with a few roads accessing the town centre, one of which is the B3323. The A3020 extricates itself at the far corner and runs through an out-of-town retail park to a roundabout where it meets the B3341.

Shide Corner, just south of Newport

Continuing south, the A3020 rejoins its original route at Shide and follows the valley of the River Medina upstream to Blackwater. Here it TOTSOs right - ahead is the A3056 for Sandown. On the far side of the village the road climbs and eventually reaches Rookley, where it finally leaves the Medina behind. An undulating section takes us to Godshill, where the road bends sharply left into School Road. After zigzagging past the church the road leaves town along the High Street, now heading eastwards.

The next mile or so is rather winding as the road passes through the scattered settlement of Sandford. The B3327 is then met at a mini-roundabout of all things, after which the road becomes straighter and more rural. It goes over the brow of a hill before beginning its descent into Shanklin. On the edge of town there is a sharp right-hand bend to cross a bridge over the former railway line from Shanklin to Ventnor, after which the road continues east along Victoria Avenue, getting more and more built-up as it continues. Presently the road narrows and a set of traffic lights is reached on the A3055 High Street, where the A3020 ends.

History

The A3020 and A3056 before the swap

In 1922 the A3020 turned east at Blackwater Junction and ran along what is now the A3056 before continuing into Sandown where it ended end-on with the A3023 on the seafront. The road into Shanklin, originally the B3326, became the A3056 in 1924. The A3020 and A3056 numbers were swapped in 1935, giving the road its current route.