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Rock fall closes main road
Friday 24th April 2009, 9:00AM BST.
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The main Bridgnorth to Shrewsbury Road at Much Wenlock was closed off again today after the third landslide since a £300,000 project to stabilise the notorious spot was completed.
About 100 tonnes of rock came crashing down onto the A458 at Harley Bank in the early hours, completely blocking the Shrewsbury-bound carriageway and leaving the opposite side of the road strewn with debris.
Police sealed off the road after being alerted by a member of the public.
Only last July the then Shropshire County Council carried out a £300,000 improvement scheme to remove 16,000 tonnes of rock in a bid to make Harley Bank more secure but there were two landslides at the site within a week of each other in February.
Council engineers subsequently carried out a detailed survey of the area and concluded that the rockfalls had not been caused by the improvement work.
Phil Crossland, Shropshire Council’s assistant director strategic highways and transportation, said: “The A458 at Harley Bank was closed to traffic this morning due to a landslide at 2am. Approximately 100 tonnes of earth has collapsed.
“Traffic is being diverted north on the A458 to Cressage, southeast on the B4380 to Eaton Constantine and Buildwas, southwest on the A4169 to Much Wenlock and vice versa.
“Due to the emergency nature of this closure we are unable to give a time when the road will re-open.”
Geo-technical engineers were due to visit the site today to begin investigations.
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So this has happened SEVERAL times now.
After ALL the work that was carried out (and as I mentioned last time on these columns) – can we now have some sort of indication from those in authority – that the works weren’t carried out properly?
In 25 odd years, from 1981 to 2005 when I travelled daily from Bridgnorth to Shrewsbury
- I can’t ever remember problems like this (except when a retaining contrete wall was built ) so it does seem that all these recent problems must be due to the works carried out recently – don’t you think?
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Obviously, this is embarrassing for the Council. Does anyone know why the work was carried out in the first place? I can’t recall any landslip prior to the road ‘enhancement’ works.
Who pays for the remedial work? Me (council tax payer)?
Since the work appears to have been below standard, is action being taken against the contractor?
Finally, good luck to anyone who has to travel between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth.
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I thought that the road was closed for 6 weeks last summer to stop this problem happening. Was that just another waste of our taxpayers money? Can’t they do anything right?
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Just another observation about wasting money
See the thread on re-vampling Telford Town centre -at a cost of £250M !!!
come on guys in control … GET A GRIP .. it’s OUR MONEY you are wasting!
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Same here – I travelled this road for many years with never a problem.
However, I am sure that the council would also have come under fire if they had NOT had these rocks surveyed and then somebody got injured or killed through a landslide.
The company responsible for the works must be held to account, and it is that company that MUST be made to pay for any further work that is required.
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The road should be closed and pople wishing to travel this road should divert via Telford
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Shoddy workmanship, embarrassed council officials and inconvenienced commuters….
Nothing new then?
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When it comes to nature, unfortunately these things are very unpredicable. I belive the works were carried out due a large section of the slope showing signs of serious failure during a geology survey; the consequences of which would have been much worse if it had failed if left untouched! This is a difficult site with historical, scientific and ecology boundaries to consider; I’m sure the engineers involved came up with a good compromising solution to minise impacts to the surroundings. Unfortuntaly though, you can’t always predict mother nature! Please don’t be too quick to place blame on people who are doing a good job.
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Richie the Engineer…
Although I’m not an engineer in geological Terms, (actually fully qualified in Electrical and electronic Engineering /computing),
…. I’m quite sure that these works “should” have been planned properly.
When I first saw what had been done…
(and this is only my relatively “uneducated opinion” in such matters)..
It seemed to me that the Rock face had been cut back leaving a very steep angle, with the remaning face still not very far away from the road….
and…
It further seemed to me that it was very likely that further erosion might occur, especially as the rock face would have been been “stressed” due to the works carried out, and ..
That therefore, if any rock falls did occur, it would STILL land in the road!
Furthermore, as I said before, all the spoil from these excavations could have been put to good use straightening out the sharp bend at the bottom of the hill on the Shrewsbury side, which HAS been the cause of holdups over the years due to HGV vehicles getting stuck trying to get “uphill”.
We all know, as thinking engineers, that things can, and do go wrong, but It does rather seem that in this case:
An incomplete job has been done.
Al we ask now is some honest answers please?
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Yep, as another person who travelled that road daily for many years, I don’t recall the road ever being closed apart from the odd road accident….same old story.
Has anyone in any of the local councils never heard the old engineer’s saying…..
“If it ain’t broke, don’t try and fix it!”
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