Terminals
Locations of Tunnel Portals
A location which is not on Green Belt land has been found on the Mainland for a portal to enter a tunnel which is within building confinements but at the moment is Green field to the immediate West of Tichfield Abbey. (50°51'27.89" N and 1°14'14.55'' W) This location is ideal for entry on to the M27 motorway via the immediate entry from vehicular portal to the A27 Southampton Road and also gaining immediate access to a standard gauge railway line which would take you East or West directly to Portsmouth and beyond, London or Southampton and many major airports. Heading East, Fareham train station can be used to access alternative trains to different locations. The location is very much between Southampton and Portsmouth cities. The elevation above sea level for this portal will be between 30m and 22m. The distance from the Solent to the Portal is 4.9km. As a tunnel should be 50m minimum under sea bed level, the tunnel will need to enter at the waters edge 80m below its start. This would give the tunnel an angle of 1:61. The minimum angle normally required is 1:16 and this is easily achieved. The North Channel in the Solent is 4m deep at lowest astronomical Tide. Therefore the easing of the tunnel angle to level is possible at approximately central Solent.
The Island based portal for entry or exit from the tunnel (Also not on Green Belt land) is located South of Brading Downs next to the present route 23 cycle track and is nearby the main Lake to Newport Arreton Road. (50°40'17.2'' N and 1°13'17.68'' W). This Arreton road is a main arterial Road of central Isle of Wight. Heading West will take you to the town of Newport, heading East will take you to Sandown and Lake. Within minutes Canteen Road at Hale Common is accessed to take you to Wroxall and Ventnor. To access the West and South West of the Island, Merstone Lane and Blackwater Hollow can be used before Newport is reached. Heading to the North of the Island, Downend Road at Arreton followed by Briddlesford Road will gain access to the North of the Island. Vehicular traffic from this entry point to the Island can radiate in a variety of directions without causing a bottleneck of one road. Also from this location a Monorail system can easily be accessed, which will need to be installed within the existing old steam engine track which is now a cycle track from Cowes to Sandown. Please note this will not effect the use of the original Cycle track. A single standard gauge train will run through the tunnel with a station on the Island side to hold or prepare trains while others arrive or depart at the same elevation as the monorail station. An alternative Tunnel train could be an electric propelled dedicated Train between Fareham Station on the Mainland and the Island Arreton Terminus. (The "Isle of Wight Express")
The Island portal elevation to the tunnel is between 29m and 9m. The distance between the Island portal and the Solent edge is 7.9km. The depth of the Solent at lowest astronomical tide is 20m in the South channel. That gives us a depth of 49m plus another 50m under the seabed is 99m to achieve a minimum 1:16 inclination. The inclination achieved is 1:79.
