Bridging the Isle of Wight

[flump1]

Any one have a rough idea how much it would cost to put a bridge in place linking the Isle of Wight with the mainland? How much did the Humber bridge cost to build?

[ShawTee7]

WHAT?? And give them prisoners an unbelievable escape route!!

[B00]

you cant build a bridge to it? you'd haveta change it's name to just 'Wight' then!

[flump1]

ShawTee7 you are a treasure !! We were thinking more of us who are at the mercy of the ferry operators!!

[flump1]

Hi Boo, thanks for that . If we can't have a bridge we need amphibious cars to get to the mainland as we are fed up with the extortionate prices the ferry companies charge. Apart fron that it is a wonderful place to live(which is why we are here !) You could be right though about the name and that will not go down too well over here !!

[maggie01]

I lived there for about 10yrs. Wish there had been a bridge there then. It was such a lot of hassle getting onto the mainland.

[maggie01]

What part of the Island do you live flump?

[flump1]

Hi Maggie we live in East Cowes and it is a really lovely place. There is going to be a lot of development in the near future so it is exciting too. The ferry companies as you know charge stupid prices to cross a small area of deep cold water !!

[maggie01]

I have a brother who lives in E. Cowes although we had a falling out a few years back but that's another story. We lived in Haylands just outside Ryde. Lovely place to bring up the kids.

[dzug]

The Humber Bridge cost �98 million to build and then loads in interest charges on top of that.

[waimarie]

My favourite 'bee in the bonnet'. The Humber Bridge is in debt to the tune of over �330m and struggles to keep up interest only payments.

The tolls are something like �2.50 each way (I'm guessing here) and therefore actively discourages movement of people on either side of the river (who traditionally detest each other by the way).

Woe unto you if you live on the south bank and need medical treatment only available in Hull. The only scheduled bus route between Hull and Grimsby is due to be scrapped in January.

Forget the bridge and lower the protcullis!! There again, being southerners they probably deserve the aggro!!!

[quickman]

I start with a serious question, where are you going to bridge to? The nearest would be to Lepe or to the east possibly Ryde to Gosport, both on penisulars with traffic bottlenecks (to put it politely), so why not a tunnel

[quickman]

........ which if it is as long as Eurotunnel would take you well north of Pompey and Scummerland in the beautiful Hampshire countryside.

[flump1]

Hello IAP, how wonderful to hear from you, it was of course a tongue in cheek question, bbought about at frustration with the ferry companies. However your suggestion of a tunnel has me thinking. Ummm i am off with my spade right now !!

[Octavius]

Of course this is based on speculation rather than fact, but using historical data (and without a particular design concept to work to) and assuming it is car only not rail.

Using the Millau Viaduct as a cost model (�400 million euros) and allowing for a general rise in steel prices and skilled labour being available in the UK, I would estimate a cost in the region of �120,000 per metre of road length. I imagine that the length would be about 10 miles (?) so at 16km x �120k you wouldn't get much change out of �2.0 billion. On top of this you would need to add costs of infrastructure to support it including toll booth plazas. If you imagine that you average 1,000 cars a day to recoup the capital cost (alone) over 100 years you would need to charge around �55 per car per crossing. I can't see it happening!

In the same token of broad brush back of a fag packet estimates, a tunnel using the channel tunnel cost (about �8.6 billion) the cost of a tunnel from Portsmouth to Cowes would cost around �2.8billion and using the same (100 years / 1,000 cars) data above, cars would need to be charged around �76 per journey. To recoup the capital cost of the build.

[Octavius]

Of course I forgot to allow a for inflation for the tunnel, so it could be well over �3bn.

Anyway, the Humber Bridge cost �98m construction cost, but at opening in 1981 the debt with loan charges was nearer to �151m (about �400m equivalent today). The government decided to subsequently pay off the Humber Bridge and paid over �300m (about �1bn today).

The bridge spanned just about 2.2km and had 27,500 tonnes of steel. The steel alone at todays prices would total more than �100m in todays market.

[lankeela]

Whats brown, steaming and comes out of cows backwards? The Isle of Wight Ferry, (sorry if this is a bit out of date)

[oakleydoaky]

please don't bridge it! it will never be the same. a beautiful place that is still cut off enough not to be spoiled. if you live there i am sorry you have to pay stupid money for the ferry. but i wish i had grown up and lived there. i love it (anyone there fancy a house and job swop!) (i will only tell you i live in wigan, lancs after you agree :)