Eclipse Busway - Completion of Phase I | Transport and roads

April 2023 - Pedestrian Improvements

A new section of pavement has been constructed in the vicinity of the Gosport Leisure Centre at the southbound side of the busway. This provides a more direct link for walking between the unsegregated crossing and the adjacent bus stops.

Opening of the extended busway 5 December 2021

We are pleased to announce that Hampshire County Council’s £11.6 million major project to lengthen the Eclipse rapid transit busway in Gosport has been completed on time and opened for service on 5 December 2021.

The one kilometre route extension increases the overall length of the existing busway – which runs parallel to the A32 (one of Hampshire’s most congested roads) - to 4.5km, allowing for rapid uncongested travel between Gosport and Fareham and extending the reach from Tichborne Way and Hutfield Link to Rowner Road, in Gosport.

Further information on the revised Eclipse bus services, including timetabling, can be found on the Eclipse web page

Please view the video.

Hampshire County Council successfully bid for funding from the National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) to complete the outstanding section of the Eclipse Busway in Summer 2017. A further £1.4m of additional funding from the Department for Transport's Transforming Cities Fund was secured in partnership with Portsmouth City Council, has been successfully secured to meet the additional cost of constructing the alternative southern junction that retains Rowner Road bridge.

Approval to progress this revised scheme was given at the Executive Member for Environment and Transport Decision Day on 23rd April 2019.

The Eclipse Busway provides a priority public transport route connecting Fareham in the north to Gosport in the south. The existing route, completed in 2012, is largely off-road with a dedicated section following the line of a former railway. The proposed 1km southern extension will follow the disused railway corridor between Tichborne Way / Hutfield Link and Rowner Road in Gosport and forms one component of a wider package of measures for Improving Access to Fareham and Gosport. The existing route is judged a great success and proposals have long existed to extend the route so that it benefits a wider catchment area.

The scheme objectives are:

To reduce journey time delay and peak hour congestion on and off the Gosport peninsula.
To remove the transport barriers to growth and encourage investment and regeneration on the peninsula.
To improve connectivity and provide additional network resilience across the peninsula.

Once complete, the Eclipse service operator First Hampshire and Dorset will invest in a fleet of seventeen new high specification, low-emission buses and introduce a new Eclipse Extra service to the nearby Daedalus Enterprise Zone. The renewal of the bus fleet will also reduce emissions to help address known air quality issues in the Fareham Air Quality Management Area (AQMA).

Planning permission was granted in April 2019 to amend the southern section of the approved scheme to provide a new junction arrangement at Rowner Road. This enhanced scheme includes a new ramp to connect the busway to Rowner Road. This change will allow Rowner Road bridge to be retained along with the existing shared-use route for pedestrians and cyclists under Rowner Road.

Drainage Maintenance works (south of Rowner Road) were completed ahead of the main works. This also included the removal of the old rail track, vegetation clearance, Statutory Undertaker apparatus diversion and installation of ducting, and maintenance to the existing drainage run.

View the approved technical plan for the revised Rowner Road junction.

August 2020, progress newsletter.

December 2020, progress newsletter.

Please read the scheme overview, programme of works plans.

A public event was held on Tuesday 2nd July at Bridgemary School, the event gave an opportunity to view the details of the design and discuss the enhanced scheme with members of the project team.

Please view the exhibition plans.

Eclipse Busway route map

Eclipses Service routes and maps

Visit One.Network which is where the planned works are published and is an independent platform that allows real-time monitoring of all the UK’s roadworks and diversions.

My Journey - travel information and travel advice choices in Hampshire.

Name Highways, Engineering and Transport
Email [email protected]
Phone 0300 555 1388

Address
Universal Services
Hampshire County Council
The Castle
Winchester
SO23 8UD