A road which looked like it could be out of action for months after storms caused a massive crater to appear will be open to drivers this evening thanks to a major engineering effort from Cumbria County Council's highways team.
The B5300 coast road at Dubmill Point near Allonby was severely damaged after stormy seas breached the sea wall and washed away around half of the road, leaving a huge hole on Tuesday March 11th.
The hole was 15 metres long, three metres deep and across the whole width of the road. Pictures of the road appeared in a number of national newspapers and websites as an illustration of the damage caused by stormy weekend weather hitting the west coast.
Cumbria Highways began work to re-open the road on Wednesday March 12th as soon as the threat from spring tides and storm surges receded. Work continued in all daylight hours between high tides including the weekend and now the road will be open to drivers from 8pm this evening March 18th) once final resurfacing work has been carried out at 5pm. Cumbria Highways estimates that some 750 tonnes of rock and concrete (550 tonnes (240m3) of concrete and 200 tonnes of rock) was needed to fill the hole.The road is single carriage only as remedial work still needs to be done to the sea wall itself, so a traffic light system will be in operation over the Easter bank holiday weekend.
Cllr Ian Stewart, Cumbria County Council's cabinet member responsible for highways, said:
"It's been all hands to the pump since the hole appeared and it's been a fantastic achievement to get the road open so quickly. The B5300 is a vital coastal road in the north west corner of the county and we were fully aware of the disruption caused to local residents and businesses for every day it was out of action. There still needs to be work done on the sea wall itself, so the road is down to one lane until after Easter; but the most important thing is that drivers can use it again. It's a tribute to all the hard work by the highways crew involved and I'd like to thank them personally for turning the project round in double quick time."
ENDS
Media enquiries to Gareth Cosslett, News Manager on 01228 606332
Notes
*** NOTE TO PICTURE EDITORS ***
A series of jpegs showing how the work has progressed will be available for download from 9.30am tomorrow morning. The last photo is being taken this evening once road surfacing commences. The pictures will be available for download from http://www.cumbria.gov.uk/dubmill.asp and will make an excellent 'time lapse' sequence of the hole being filled and repaired.