Pelsall: Norton Road Closure- and a few more issues… (UPDATE)

14/07/11

Following my post yesterday, I received this response from highways:

 

Dear Cllr Longhi

 

Thank you for the email, I am pleased to confirm that Norton Road should be re-opened tonight. South Staffs Water Authority carried out a repair to a water leak last night and it is being re-instated today.

 

With regard to the collapsed gully, I have made arrangements for it to be plated and coned off today. This will be followed up with a permanent repair asap

I am grateful for this and pleased with the speed of response; again, credit where its due “well done Walsall Highways”.

A few learning points:

In the  rush to ‘get the news out’ I noticed that a few contributors were stating that it was Severn Trent’s drain that had collapsed – not so; also, as commented below, the Express & Star describe the hole as 10 ft wide – hmm, draw your own conclusions!

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A flurry of emails and tweets today notified me of the closure of the Norton Road at the junction with Lichfield Road. Amongst these I noticed a tweet from the Express & Star:

RT @eands_walsall: 10ft hole has opened up in Norton Road, Pelsall, after a sewer collapsed. Motorists are advised to avoid the area.

Goodness, I thought, that’s a little larger than the 400mm one described by a highways officer – let’s take a look!

Norton Road - hole in the road

Well, Express & Star, shall we all muck in to buy a tape measure? I reckon the LA highways officer estimate maybe just a little closer to reality.

A certain other blogger may well be amused to know that I cycled into the principality today and one of the benefits of this was that I was able to spot another highways problem, one that could potentially be as serious as the widely advertised one above.

I noticed this on my way to the ‘cavern’ that closed Norton Road

Drain gully opposite the Ironing Shop, Norton Rd, Pelsall

As a civil engineer (past life) and someone who has actually laid kerbs and drains, I can confidently say this is a serious accident waiting to happen – especially for cyclists. There is little holding the cast iron gully in place.

Here are some close-ups:

Gully close-up No 1

Gully close up No 2

The alarming part to this photo is not the crumbling edge, but the collapsed brickwork underneath (not so evident, sorry).

On the brighter side of things, Highways are doing a proper job now of the pothole ravaged Church Road:

Church Road resurfacing

Well done highways! Can you ask them look at the road gully too please?