The £1.3 million plus scheme to replace the sewerage pipes on New Road and Sandpits Road is will not be complete this year. However, work on New Road will be suspended on 9 November until the second week of January. The road will be returned to two-way traffic when the works are suspended. In the New Year, Seven Trent Water’s contractor, Amey will mole drill under Gravel Hill to connect the New Road pipe with the work on Sandpits.
Work on replacing utility services on Sandpits Road will continue beyond 9 November but will be suspended for the holiday season.
On Tuesday, Tracey Huffer and I met Samantha Pedley, a customer service representative for a tour of the work and to be briefed on progress. There have been problems on New Road.
As a former archaeologist, I know how trial work can miss the big story. That has been the case on New Road, where the trial drilling failed to pick up the strata of Tilestone within the Raglan Mudstone foundation. (Fishmore Quarry worked Mudstone and Tilestone.) The strength of the Tilestone has slowed the work down and has broken mole drills.
That means more excavation than had been planned. Despite this, the New Road work is expected to be complete downhill of One Stop by 9 November including resurfacing and a return to two-way traffic. No work on major roads in Shropshire’s market towns is allowed between the second Monday in November and the Monday following the first week in January. On or shortly after 4 January, work will begin to drill from New Road alongside One Stop to Sandpits Road. Hopefully, this will be trouble free and the work will be finished within the current deadline of 19 February.
After late night vandalism of fencing, Armadillo CTV has been installed on site.
The Sandpits Road scheme was initiated to bring an end to flooding of bungalows on Whitefriars. The utilities under the road proved to be a right mess. Water, sewerage, gas and telecoms have had to be shifted and upgraded. Currently, the gas network company Cadent is shifting and replacing gas pipes. Work on Sandpits Road is expected to continue until 26 February.
There will also be works on Fishmore Road between 23 and 26 November. This is to connect the Fishmore Quarry housing site to the sewerage system. And Fishmore Road will be fully closed on Monday 30 November for drainage investigation works, including excavating to inspect damaged pipe and to repair it.
The roadworks are causing a lot of inconvenience. But we must upgrade our utilities. If we don’t, we will get more gas leaks, more water works, more broadband outages and more localised flooding.
Our thanks to Amey for their efforts to ensure that everyone is kept informed about the most extensive roadworks we have seen in Ludlow for a long while.
Is anyone logging this exposed geological section? Interesting to know why they thought the tilestones weren’t there.