A LANDSLIP that forced the closure of a major road between Darlington and County Durham has caused chaos for commuters and worry for local businesses cut off from passing trade. As the situation enters its third month, Vicki Henderson met with council officials to hear what they are trying to do to get the A67 moving again.

WHEN the A67 was closed to traffic at Carlbury, near Darlington, in March, motorists hoped that the landslip underneath the road would be fixed in a few weeks.

More than two months later, the road remains closed while geo-technical experts investigate what caused the landslip and what can be done to fix it.

Officials from Darlington Borough Council say that since the embankment dropped dramatically in March, it appears to have stabilised – raising hopes that it could reopen to single file traffic by the end of this month.

However, if the experts working on the site are not confident that the embankment is secure, the road will remain closed to traffic and pedestrians, possibly for months, while a solution is found.

Some business owners and commuters have questioned why progress on the site has been so slow, with a full report on cause of the landslip not expected until August.

Dave Winstanley, the council’s assistant director for highways, said: “We’ve had to do things in a very methodical way. It’s a gradual, slow process to avoid doing any more damage to the bank.”

The discovery of two large cast iron water mains, each carrying water to households across Darlington and Teesside, complicated the investigation.

One of the mains, which is 100-years-old and sensitive to any movement in the land, runs immediately next to the crack raising fears that if the land slipped further the pipe could burst, destroying the road and embankment and cutting off water supplies to Teesside.

Since the water was diverted, experts have been drilling bore holes along the length of the road to determine what has gone wrong at Carlbury.

Mr Winstanley said: “Until the geo-technical experts make their report we just can’t say how long it will take to fix and how long it will be closed.

“Is it to do with the steepness of the slope down to the river, is it the wet weather we’ve had in the last couple of years or is it another factor?

“Until we know what is wrong and what caused the landslip, we can’t start work on a solution.

“The landslip hasn’t moved since March so we will ask about reopening the road to single file traffic and see what they say.”

Local people have raised concerns about the use of small back lanes by motorists, in particular Durham Lane and Ulnaby Road, instead of the official, but longer, diversion along Staindrop Road.

Officials are looking at introducing a 30mph speed limit on Ulnaby Road and closing off Durham Lane to non-local traffic in an attempt to increase safety and reduce damage to the roads.

Mr Winstanley said: “We are trying not to impact on residents too much but if we have to close the road and make it access only then we will. Those roads are single track in places and were not built for the amount of traffic trying to use them now.”

The council has created a dedicated webpage at darlington.gov.uk/carlbury which will be updated with any developments on the A67.

 

A timeline of the work carried out on the A67

February

  • Council workers find the embankment along the A67 has dropped by 200mm (7in), with a crack one metre (3ft) deep running alongside the road.
  • Single file traffic is put in place to keep motorists away from the edge of the carriageway.
  • The crack is filled with cement to prevent water seeping into it on the advice of geo technical experts.

March

  • Two 100-year-old cast iron water mains belonging to Northumbrian Water (NWL) are identified under the road- each carries 24million litres of water a day.
  • Between March 18 and 27 the embankment drops by 380mm (14in) –the road is closed to traffic and pedestrians.
  • Northumbrian Water start work to reduce the amount of water flowing through the pipes.

April

  • Work continues to divert water flows from the NWL pipes and reduce pressure – a four week task due to the risk of damage to other parts of the system.
  • A series of trial holes are drilled by NWL to find the exact location of the two water mains.
  • Geo technical experts take over to investigate the cause of the slip and identify a solution.
  • A potential second slip is identified 30m from the original location.

May/June

  • Boreholes are drilled along the entire length of the road to allow tests to be carried out on land.
  • The land has dropped 500mm (19in) in total.
  • The road remains closed.