Isle of Wight

This article is about the island.
For the Highway Authority, see Isle of Wight Council.

Overview

The Isle of Wight is a large island in the traditional county of Hampshire, across the Solent from Portsmouth and the New Forest.

Newport is the largest town, and the hub of the island's geography and road network.

Getting to the Island

There is no fixed road crossing to the Island, not are there any immediate plans to do so, particularly since none of the approach roads to the Solent (such as the A337, A33 and A3) are designed to cope with such a level of through traffic.

Three vehicle ferries run to the Isle of Wight:

• Lymington - Yarmouth ferry - runs from Lymington in the New Forest to Yarmouth, at the west side of the island
• Southampton - East Cowes ferry - runs from Southampton, down Southampton Water to East Cowes on the north of the island.
• Portsmouth - Fishbourne ferry - runs from Portsmouth to Fishbourne, near Ryde, on the east side the island.

Extra passenger routes run between Southampton and Cowes, Portsmouth Harbour railway station and Ryde Pier Head railway station, and Southsea to Ryde Esplande via hovercraft.

Links

Isle of Wight Council

• Isle of Wight Council Website