The road collapse in Riverside Drive _320
A MAJOR route into the city is to be closed off for at least six weeks after the collapse of a sewer created a massive hole in the road.
Engineers say they don’t yet know what caused the three- metre-wide section of River-side Drive, near to the main entrance of the former Garden Festival site, to fall in.
The collapsed section of the road is around two metres deep, with the brick-lined Victorian sewer lying around nine metres below the surface.
A lorry driver, who noticed the collapse at about 5am yesterday, alerted police who then cordoned off the road between Jericho Lane and Promenade Gardens.
Cordons are expected to remain in place until repairs are complete and motorists are being diverted into the city centre along Aigburth Road and Park Road. Rush-hour road users are advised to expect long queues.
It is hoped access will be maintained for local people.
Riverside Drive resident Ivor Scholes said: “I’m retired so this doesn’t affect me personally but I do feel sorry for commuters who use the road regularly as they will encounter heavy congestion.
“I am also a little concerned in case this happens again on other sections of the road.”
One commuter said this would add at least half an hour to her daily journey.
She said: “I hope they can sort this out quickly. Traffic will double on all the alterna-tive routes into Liverpool.”
Spokeswoman for United Utilities, Helen Wilson, said: “People can expect the road to be shut for at least six weeks, and that’s a very early estimate. We won’t really know the extent of the repairs needed for a couple of weeks while we are investigating.
“We now have the major job of digging down to the sewer and clearing away the collapsed section of road before we can properly assess the damage and the best way to repair it.
“It will take a couple of weeks for us to excavate down and begin to assess repairs. Flows are still managing to run through the sewer past the collapse, so there is no impact on drainage services, and we will maintain this throughout the repairs.
She added: “We recognise this is inconvenient and we do apologise to residents and motorists, but this could not have been foreseen. This particular sewer did not have any history of problems.
“Health and safety is paramount for us now.”
