Road works on Wightman Road

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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on Thursday

Also, the blockage of Endymion Rd has been extended to Wed 25 March. Oh joy.

Did somebody mention 'LTN'??

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Permalink Reply by Dick Harris 2 hours ago

After five days away, I have returned to find that work has not yet finished.  The main diggings are not actually in the carriageway but in the footway just where the zebra crossing joins it.  The following picture shows fairly well how crowded the ground under the footway can be.  I have marked on the picture:

A  The huge cast iron pipe that carried low pressure gas to houses on this side of the street.  In 2016 these pipes were replaced with yellow plastic which, in this case, was put inside the old iron.  

B  The green plastic duct (probably BT's) that contains cables serving individual customers nearby.  This has clearly been damaged and should be repaired before the hole is filled.

C What I presume is the still-working end of the electrical cable that failed.

D Three newly installed cables clad in red plastic that replace the failed section of the old cable.  These are joined to the old cable in a large, newly installed joint enclosure.

There are several other tubes running along the open digging.  These are probably lower voltage electrical supplies to, for example, the Belisha beacon that stands in the picture and the lamp post just beyond.

If this hole was outside a house, there would additionally be a blue water supply pipe crossing from the water main which is under the carriageway.

This second picture is of the same diggings from another angle and showing the new red cables entering the sub-station enclosure. I think it is clear that our pavements and roads conceal a whole lot of risks that our utility workers have to deal with.

I don't know whether the work has finished and there was nobody around today to ask.  Usually, once a job's done, a different company shows up to fill the hole and restore the surface.

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