i knew it... i knew i passed your famous Saab just as you were leaving Royal Wootton Bassett to join the motorway, as an Ex Saab nut myself, i look out for such beasts on the road.....

@samholdsworth420

2 ай бұрын

Saab 😭😭😭😭 gEt iT?!?

@lisalouisekeen4191

2 ай бұрын

many a saab in my time.

@eartharrow6772

2 ай бұрын

Loved 'borrowing' my Mums Saab turbo and driving extremely fast in it

@OneFatStatue

2 ай бұрын

But does he have a Saaby face, on that side of things?

@gordonm2821

2 ай бұрын

I hate that junction since they ‘improved’ it. When you come off eastbound and want to go to Wootton Bassett there is a weird gap to aim for between the left to Wroughton and continue clockwise to westbound exit.

"Starting in Lyneham and ending in Chippenham, however it also starts in Chippenham and ends in Lyneham" 🤣🤣😂 It's this sort of commentary that makes me love this channel.

When the road between Kununurra and Broome in Western Australia was closed by flooding, the detour on paved roads was 6203km - a fairly optimistic 66 hours

@samholdsworth420

2 ай бұрын

Australia 🦘 😂

@justafriend5361

2 ай бұрын

"Take this short route, you can make it in one day. Or you take the scenic detour over flat land. It will bring you there in a bit over a week." "I have time, I will take the detour."

@Sarge084

2 ай бұрын

Jon needs to get down there and make a video on it!

@WhiteDieselShed

2 ай бұрын

@@justafriend5361 This 100 metre stretch of road is closed and here is the detour live as it happens.... He needs to find and video that road/detour that takes an ever smaller of closed section and an ever longer detour route. Auto Shenanigans Worldwide Tour... Coming soon (or not)

@leekelly9639

2 ай бұрын

@@samholdsworth420yes it’s on a map if you know how to use it..👋

The muddy tracks across the collapsed area suggest that a few rugged vehicles have forged a temporary way through. 🚜

@josephteller9715

2 ай бұрын

probably for the blast and construction site that killed the road.

@leewatson8129

2 ай бұрын

plenty of 4x4's around this area.

@Jules_Diplopia

2 ай бұрын

And that is probably the obvious "quick solution". Take a road roller, flatten and compress that track. Add gravel. Cover in tarmac. Job done. Now ok, it might not last so long, but better than nothing. And if you want it to last longer dig a ditch on one side to hold the water and reinforce the opposite side to deter further slippage.

@philtucker1224

2 ай бұрын

It takes a lot to stop a busy farmer on his tractor..

Does anyone else find themselves liking Jon's videos and then watching them? It all becomes worth it when I hear lines such as "running for about nine and half miles starting in Lyneham and ending in Chippenham. However it also starts in Chippenham and ends in Lyneham.". 🤣🤣🤣

@Sarge084

2 ай бұрын

Every time, I mean, it's almost guaranteed that you're going to like the video so hit that like button ASAP!

Look up Galley Hill Road, in Swanscombe, Kent. The chalk spine the road is on collapsed a year ago. the local residents are holding a birthday party for it on friday

@BazaBoi

2 ай бұрын

Literally came to say this exact thing. Worth a look. I think the companies the road collapsed onto are still waiting for a resolve.

@_TwoBobBit

2 ай бұрын

Well i never! I've driven/ridden that road loads and somehow never clocked on that it's perched on a spine! Quite impressive from an aerial view, but not really that surprising that it's falling over

@chrisglover1978

2 ай бұрын

@@_TwoBobBit I never realised either. I drove down there a couple of hours before it collapsed. There was water bubbling out of the road

@_TwoBobBit

2 ай бұрын

@@chrisglover1978 Yikes, near death experience! I bet the entire year it's been closed has been dedicated to Thames Water trying to wriggle out of paying for the rebuild

@chrisglover1978

2 ай бұрын

@@_TwoBobBit yes!

The B5605 in Newbridge near Wrexham, would like to point out that it was closed after a landslip in January 2021, and rebuilding work has yet to start.

@petereverett1455

2 ай бұрын

Or Queen's Road in Brymbo...

@shaun30-3-mg9zs

2 ай бұрын

Newbridge is a right pain at the moment, its a pain for the A483 diversion route and divert through Llangollen must put 12 miles on the journey

@shaun30-3-mg9zs

2 ай бұрын

@@petereverett1455 Queens Road is now a footpath it just up the road from me in Pentre Broughton

@siwynjones

2 ай бұрын

That was the main southerly route into/out of Wrexham until the very late 1980s, when they built the new Newbridge bridge, so although it’s a pain in the arse now, it would’ve been a catastrophe if it had happened then. I remember having to go through the middle of Chirk and Newbridge, up the side of Cefn, Rhosymedre and Plas Madoc, then through Ruabon and Johnstown to get on to the Wrexham bypass at Rhostyllen. The only clues left are the dual carriageway in Ruabon and a couple of ghost petrol stations.

@rhyswilliams5923

Ай бұрын

​@shaun30-3-mg9zs definitely is! And then people get stuck when they try and go via Pontycysyllte.

Don’t hold your breath on the final cost and time to completion. This is a public project so double the cost and double the estimated time and you might be near to reality. Great video.

@NJRD977

2 ай бұрын

I wonder if they will pre-install the potholes during the build to blend it in with the rest of the roads in the area or if the plan is to allow natural organic ones to self grow

@clintonepps3666

2 ай бұрын

yet the chinese would have the road rebuilt within a week with concrete subase material and concrete pilings on the high side to reduce slippage

@neilkurzman4907

Ай бұрын

@@clintonepps3666 Tofu Dreg concrete

The problem with feasibility studies is they cost so much the actual remediation works become hamstrung.

As someone who lives in Chippenham and works in Lyneham, I can testify it is indeed a bit annoying! If I’m really feeling fruity I’ll drive home down Clack Hill, but the residents of Bradenstoke are a bit sick of all the traffic so I keep that for a special treat once or twice a month so as not to annoy them too much……

I like how through your videos it's incredibly clear that the more well informed you become about how all of this works the more cynical you become.

@tiepup

2 ай бұрын

How many feasibility studies did you do to come up with that opinion?

@FatherDraven

2 ай бұрын

@@tiepup they still haven't been approved but my buddy at the consulting firm assures me that my re-election fund will the incredibly happy with the findings. Sounds like we might have to order seven.

@horstyoutube6413

2 ай бұрын

Civil engineer (Railway) from the continent here. After a certain amount of years in the business you either get cynical, become a total lunatic, or just run out of forks to give. Or you change to the dark side and believe in „everything will be good, on time, and in budget“. Trust me. If we could transfer our sarcasm into budget Japanese Railways would look like a model train club compared to us.

@ehsnils

2 ай бұрын

@@tiepupWell before the second minor disagreement.

@G-ra-ha-m

2 ай бұрын

If you watch JonLevi and 'My Lunch Break' to see what was achieved hundreds of years ago... our modern lack of ability is even more puzzling!

If you like closed roads due to land movement, you'll absolutely love the Isle of Wight.

@andrewhotston983

2 ай бұрын

Yes. I hope the Saab appears there soon.

Nice to see another local segment. This used to be a cracking little stretch of road

@David_Crayford

2 ай бұрын

Clearly not what it was once cracked up to be.

The A3055 west of Ventnor on the Isle of Wight had a landslip and closed the road back in 2012. The A3055 east of Ventnor was closed recently because of a landslip, it's 50/50 if the road will reopen. The A3055 between Shanklin and Chale has a history of landslips and the road being rebuilt or a new route made.

Dauntsey Bank is nearby where the Western Railway passes by (on the same road). That also shifts. I remember my grandad mentioning it often in the 70's (he was retired from the railway on medical grounds). Since then, I've worked with railways for 43 years.

Loving you series on disappearing roads, how long before the Snake Pass slides down the mountain side, already banned large trucks and now several traffic lights as single traffic in places.

@Dan23_7

2 ай бұрын

Haha I was just about to say about that slip near LadyBower.

@tobyjackman3212

2 ай бұрын

Is that in Derbyshire?

@leopold7562

2 ай бұрын

I've not been on that road for a while now, but the last time I went on it I noticed a couple of speed restrictions and one bit near the Ladybower which had dropped so far I felt my car's suspension bottom out as I hit it. Given the Woodhead is now so crap as a route across the Pennines, with so much traffic ruining it, I'm thinking the abandoning of the M67 is looking more and more short-sighted

@dizzydevil547

2 ай бұрын

WOW im from ashton under lyne originaly so 30 min drive from the snake pass ( my family still live there but im in bristol now for 18 yrs) ...ANYHOW i digress lol i neevr knew they had put limitations on it now i remeber as a kid in the 70s and 80s going out with my granadad who was a lorry driver (obv unofficaly as hed of got sacked taking me with him if the firm found out lol) he delivered timber on a flatbed truck with just a normal cab ( no sleeping compartment) so did a lot of deliveries across the snake and wood head passes to places such as bakewell, sheffield ect and also did some pick ups from places such as hull docks! ..I suppose now lorrys would have to use wood head OR go the long way round threough stockport onto the A6 or the m62 up through rochdale and huddersfield!

@dormie200

2 ай бұрын

Derbyshire has numerous roads closed due to "land slips" - mostly minor roads, but it takes them years to sort the jobs out. Lea bottom - closed 3 years, reopened 1 year ago, and almost immediately reclosed due to another collapse in Holloway 2 miles away. Still no signs of any repair in Holloway and another section of Lea Bottom has now dropped about 3 inches but so far it remains open as far as Holloway. Chesterfield Road, Beeley - closed for more than 2 years. Rumour has it that this one is never to re-open. Oker road - closed since the start of the pandemic. No signs yet that it is going to get repaired. There are more, but these 3 are local and so I know the details. Glaciers move faster than DDC Highways.

meanwhile in japan a road is taken out on a Sunday by a land slide and by Thursday the next week it is fully rebuilt and reinforced and open on the Friday..... The UK is a joke

@Pooky-Cat

2 ай бұрын

But then again we can blow our nose in public without causing offence

@Steve-gc5nt

2 ай бұрын

​@@Pooky-CatAnd there was that whole Pearl Harbor thing too.

@IceCanine

2 ай бұрын

And, much of the time, they do the work at night with minimal disruption. Seen it with my own eyes over there.

@paulfarghi

2 ай бұрын

Tax system in Japan pays for infra structure, you can't squeeze an orange over and over again it runs out of pips, collect more tax better services and infrastructure

@taiko666

Ай бұрын

After 10 years of living there one of my big impressions is: Japan is nowhere near as technologically futuristic as people think (in fact, it's stuck in the 80s in many was) but ... and this is the important bit... *nothing* seems to fall into disrepair. Everything's kept working like new. I don't remember ever having seen a pot hole.

If you're looking at closed roads awaiting repair, another example in the South West would be the A432 between Yate and Downend. Bridge over the M4 built in the 60s to last 120 years. After half of that the bridge is closed already beyond repair and due to be replaced and completed by 2026. Diversion causing traffic chaos, country lanes nearby closed and local road layouts changed in the meantime.

@rickmancr

2 ай бұрын

The traffic lights near Junction 18 of the M4 make it easier to turn right on to the A46 from the B4465, though. So there's that.

@ryanford5387

2 ай бұрын

@@rickmancr I didn't realise the temporary measures went that far away. Even so, the Lyde Green roundabout on A4174 and the stretch of Westerleigh Road heading towards it from the north is generally much busier. Luckily I don't need to drive that way during rush hour but looking at Google maps they do appear to get pretty blocked up during peak times.

@OkenWS

2 ай бұрын

​@@ryanford5387 realistically, though, I'm not sure the traffic is that much worse than before. The A432 (Willy Wicket) RA used to queue heavily at peak times from all directions except the southern arm. Perhaps the queues have worsened somewhat going north towards Yate from the Keynsham direction but it isn't that much worse.

I lived in Lyneham at the RAF base in the early 00's so this is a bit of blast from my past.

@wessexdruid7598

2 ай бұрын

Back then, it was the busiest cargo airport in the country. Lived right next to it for twelve years.

We went up Mam Tor just a day or so after they had closed it. My mum had taken us out for a day in the camper van (that my dad had built) and there wasn't really room to turn round at the "road closed sign" so she ended up driving up looking for a turning spot. She was forced to give up on this plan when there wasn't a road any more. You can tell how many goes they had at the road by the thickness of the tarmac in the broken off bits, it's metres thick.

Wow, when I was posted at RAF Lyneham back in the 00's I used to love driving that road. One time when I was on nightshit guard duty I was given the chance to drive the guard Commander's Lotus Elise along it, that was so much fun!!!

@OneFatStatue

2 ай бұрын

I used to drive it several times a week in a classic Mini when I lived in Wootton Bassett and my girlfriend lived in Chippenham. I could get 70mph between the two sharp corners (going downhill) and not end up in the field. Great road when it existed.

@andrewchippenham

2 ай бұрын

I used to work for GPO Telephones AKA BT, deeply involved with Gulf War 1.phone wise, Do you remember a former CO Grp. Cpt Alastair Steadman?

@lilcharlie3130

2 ай бұрын

Army or RAF?

@wessexdruid7598

2 ай бұрын

@@lilcharlie3130 The only Army at Lyneham were RCT/RLC (47 AD Sqn & 395 AD Tp) who packed the loads for air-dropping - and they were well over the other side of the base, east of the A3102 (Calne Road). Or do you mean a Group Captain???

@lilcharlie3130

2 ай бұрын

@@wessexdruid7598 I meant to the op, as he said he was posted to lyneham and wondered if he knew my dad (as you said there were only about 150 boys at lyneham so he might’ve known him) Cool that you know about 47 though, not many even know they were there.

There’s a nail and a head in there mate, wiltshire council are as much use as t*ts on a fish. The poor pub down the bottom of the hill is struggling like crazy because of the loss of passing custom and whenever you want to go anywhere it usually means taking the much longer diversion via Calne. I can assure you work won’t start this year, I can also assure you it’ll slip again, whilst the construction work didn’t help above (I know the guy who it nearly bankrupt) he did have full permission for all land movements etc. the issue lies in highways and the council in the fact they removed all the trees in the bank that was holding the bank up. I remember them doing it and I said to my old man that the bank would be gone in a few years, hey presto the roots rot and the only thing holding the bank has gone. Cue landslide….

@dejapoo5508

2 ай бұрын

Sounds about right. Shock Horror ............. tree roots hold soil together.

@G-ra-ha-m

2 ай бұрын

Councils hacking down trees seems to be even more popular than DEI this year...

@lilcharlie3130

2 ай бұрын

I had the same conversation with my old man, shame as it was quite a fun road to drive.

@OkenWS

2 ай бұрын

The Council removed the trees?! I assumed it was the developer. Is it the same guy who owns the Lilly Brook site? I wonder if the council did any ground investigation or whether their agri contractor just turned up and started ripping up trees.

@IceCanine

2 ай бұрын

Permission should never have been given to undertake that level of building work directly at the top of an already moving - albeit slowly - hillside. Every day I used to drive to work and see the piles of earth being moved beside the garage and wonder if I’d make it safely to the bottom of the hill. It was obvious that something was going to go wrong at some point. The road will now likely never be rebuilt resulting in endless misery for people living in all the tiny lanes around Lyneham, Dauntsey and Wootton Bassett that now see hulking great big lorries, and hundreds of cars and vans every day. Just last week, I viewed a property in one of them. Went on a Saturday - busier than expected but fairly acceptable; went back in the week during rush hour and it was an immediate no. People were flying up and down the road trying to get to Lyneham. It’s affected so many aspects of life in the area. Nobody living locally, who I’ve spoken to, believes it will ever be reopened.

RAF LYNEHAM used to have lots of heavy kit arriving on those roads for many years. Bound to take its toll.

@MrFuckwit999

2 ай бұрын

I think they used the road from the east, it is noticeably wider than lyneham banks, presumably because of the RAF base.

Things like the Old Mam Tor road are why we do feasibility studies now. No point pouring tens of millions into a literal hole in the ground.

@richardharrold9736

2 ай бұрын

True. But they can also become an exercise in self-fulfilling bureaucracy, generating income for councillors' cronies while resulting in sweet FA happening.

I used to commute that stretch of road on a daily basis, was really nice in summer on a bike in the twisty bits going uphill.

I knew A level geography would come in handy one day. I believe the road is a victim of a process known as ‘rotational slip’, which occurs on clay-like soils when they become saturated. The downward force of friction is countered by the partial liquefaction of the clay strata (especially if the wet period is immediately after a dry one) which essentially turns the rock into a slippery slope downhill. A classic example is Hadleigh Castle near us in Essex, one wall of which is halfway down the hill. Interesting to see the plans to essentially underpin the road. A similar exercise took place on my local railway line (c2c) on Dunto bank, albeit this is more about counteracting clay shrinkage than saturation but the principle of stabilising the embankment is the same 👍🍻🍀

I used to use this route weekly, a very enjoyable road. The detour is hard work, so mostly for me it is now the M4, with all the idiots fighting along there. Sadly, the rest of the B4069 is deteriorating, and I guess that'll have little maintenance, as the money will be spent on the broken bit. The collapsed section has had signs warning of 'liable to subsidence' all the years I've known it, and has often become very lumpy before being patched up, so not surprising it fell apart. The construction work above it may well have helped it along. Whatever they're building might carry a bit of a risk. Gravity will win.

I think it could easily be solved by a land ferry. Buy an old army tank transporter and take cars across the broken bit. Of course a toll fee would need to be applied as well as having a Greggs at either end.

@solariss452

2 ай бұрын

That's funny. You made me chuckle, but so true!

@Craig-wp3pz

2 ай бұрын

Sadly the 'Land Ferry' would have to be electric 🔋 🔋 🔋 ⚡🔥, and the Greggs would only be allowed to sell 'Vegan' sausage rolls....😮 🤮

Memories of my youth. I can remember Mam Tor before the road collapsed. On the plus side, the diversion takes you through Winnats Pass into Castleton,, a quite beautiful stretch of road. Another good vid Jon!

I live in Calne and the closure is annoying, even though I don’t need to drive that way very often - all the minor roads in the area that could be used as diversions are ‘closed’ to through traffic so I apparently can’t use roads that I have used for years and are nowhere near Lyneham! The B4069 used to be the main road between Swindon and Chippenham (I think it was the A420) but it was downgraded to a B road because of the issues with the stability of the land, which have been ongoing for years. Simultaneously the B3102 between Lyneham and the A4 at Calne was upgraded to A3102 to take all the Chippenham bound traffic away from the Lyneham Banks. This was 20 years before the north-western bypass road round Calne was built and the traffic jams through the town were horrendous for all that time!

love a good bit of north wilts coverage as that-er where i hail from. B4069 also has problems near lower seagry with a puddle that doesn't seem to drain leaving the road impassable for lots of cars. Seems like the 4069 might just be cursed.

.....yeh, its not a unique problem in the Peaks. There's a few roads suffering from subsidence. Snakes Pass is still getting repaired and closed to vehicles over 3.5tons. Doesn't help that people race on the roads and are surprised when they pinball off or through the walls 🤷‍♂

@maybenot6075

2 ай бұрын

I used to go over there for the drive, it's a nice road but iv stopped going as everytime seemed to get worse and worse for idiots thinking it's a hill climb on a fast n furious film, the usual awful golf/audi with that stupid pop & bang map. Last I went was 5years ago, coming back at night they'd closed the road by the time I got over due to snow. I was fine in my subaru forester but 4 idiots went screaming past me on a bend then found 2 spun out further up in the hillside with their mates flagging me down to pull them out, obviously with the weather closing in I didnt fancy getting trapped so left them there. Only really go to wales for a nice scenic drive now the roads are far better maintained and iv found a few that are alot better than snakes pass plus it seems the local chavvys actually know how to drive and dont act like utter morons!

@stuartd9741

2 ай бұрын

​@@maybenot6075 I think it was correct of you to continue your journey upon seing a fellow motorist in dire straits.. .. It's the thing to do in the greatest traditions of Top Gear..👍

@S.ASmith

2 ай бұрын

@@maybenot6075 Black Mountain is great for that. I have plans to do a lot of these roads in my car, but for pictures. If you're doing 100mph you miss all the scenery, especially on a nice day. I'll bring hiking boots and some rope etc and go to the crashed bomber as well, get some exercise and take a picnic!

We have a road here on the Isle of Wight, beteween Ventnor and Shanklin. There was a fairly big landslip caused by heavy rain, but the road still remains intact. I expect it to remain closed for a considerable amount of time. It is important for us here on the south of the island, if anything happens on the alternative route, Ventnor is almost cut off.

dont live to far from here, it was actually caused by a mistake whilst building a house just above the road. it was built in the wrong spot by a few metres

A portion of US87 collapsed in Wyoming sometime in the 90s that was never rebuilt. Interstate 90 already existed and was only a few miles away and there was another bypass route for it, so the state just decided to leave it as is. ETA: corrected the date.

Incidentally Jon the new A14 section south of Huntingdon opened over six months early. It does happen. Kings Dyke crossing was built for less money than the first contractor said it would. That happens too!

You'll probably be interested in the A226 near Swanscombe as well, which has suffered a similar fate. Currently no plans in place for what to do about it either, despite it collapsing a year ago.

I used to live in Calne, it was pretty funny hearing and seeing all the locals going nuts over it.

You need to have a look at the A83 Rest and Be Thankful. £14m spent so far clearing landslides and estimated £130m to fix it properly.

Won't surprise me if this road goes the same way as the Mam Tor road did. It looks pretty much the same.

@interstellaraudiodnb

2 ай бұрын

Soon to be followed by all the roads to Lea

In the Cambridgeshire Fens they used to build the roadway floated on massive bundles of willow withies. Still working well to this day.

Strange how the building work is allowed to continue, given that it is on ‘unstable ground’?

@aimlesswanderer8295

2 ай бұрын

Is isn’t it? Also strange that lorry loads of hardcore were put down just before the collapse, but I’m sure it’s just the rain.

@a320trevor

28 күн бұрын

I visited last week no sign of development the building site looks abandoned 11111 ====

Very much reminds me of the Undercliff Drive between Ventnor and Niton on the Isle of Wight, that's been completely closed to traffic for a few years now since a massive landslide took it out. I don't think the council will ever rebuild it. A shame, because it was one of the most picturesque drives on the whole island.

This bears some similarities to the event at Stenungsund in Sweden in September 2023, where the E6 motorway and a services (including several vehicles of different sizes) were repositioned by a 50-70 meter landslide caused by fill material at a nearby building site.

Wyndford Rd near where I live in Cumbernauld has been shut for over 15 years - It was previously a fairly short but busy road connecting the towns south of the Forth & Clyde canal to the towns north of the canal but due to old underground mineworks causing the road to subside, the road was closed. Despite the fact that the affected section of road is only about 10-15 meters in length, to my knowledge there was disagreements between North Lanarkshire council and Falkirk council regarding who would pay for it as the road lay right on the council boundary. The road is however still passable on foot or by bike.

Mate you have a great Chanel very informative and content I have watched you for the last few months 100% for you

I love your stuff, AS, satisfies my thing for infrastructure in the UK. Thank you.

In North Yorkshire a major A road A59 has been closed since early February due to landslip and I don’t think work has started on it yet.

@ddemaine

2 ай бұрын

I drove near there last week: They're busy building the new road to replace that section (west of Blubberhouses)

@rachelwalker7091

2 ай бұрын

@@ddemaine That’s good news

@mickb6285

2 ай бұрын

I drove over there during wet weather last December and the road was like a river due to all the gullies being blocked further up the hill, the water eventually found a low spot in the verge where it ran onto adjacent land, this is right where it has now subsided. NYCC are saying the road will be closed until the end of June at the earliest. I wonder if they'll empty the blocked gullies??

@bakedbean37

2 ай бұрын

@@ddemaine "They're busy building the new road" Jolly good. I have one of the slow moving queues of diverted traffic sitting outside where I am in Otley for great chunks of the day. We'll celebrate the new bit of road opening.

@ddemaine

2 ай бұрын

@@bakedbean37 Alas you'll enduring those queues for some while yet. The upper half that new section of road does resemble something like a road (it is being built on an bridleway). The lower section down by Blubberhouses is currently an array of trenches and piles hardcore.

Wilts council don’t maintain their roads n drainage at the best of times. 12 draining grates full to the top with silt in Corsham and plenty of road markings missing 😮a couple of miles from lynham. So not a shock they haven’t fixed this. Wish I’d know you were local John I’d have got you lunch. !!!

You're an absolute gem in this world, love it xD

A59 North Yorkshire might be worth some research!!

@chunkyfecalbreakfast

2 ай бұрын

I live on this road and the destruction of the Roman road for the new path is absolutely disgusting. They’ve been working for for months and achieved naff all too.

I live not far from Lyneham Banks and one of my justifications for getting a drone was to see what that road is like. Now I am going to have to fabricate a new ‘justification’ but you have saved me several hundred pounds and a lot of earache! 😂

I would point out that the Mam Tor road was built on top of a 4000 year old landslide in the first place...

Mam Tor is a very unstable hill ( mostly Shale) so replacing the road over it was impractical. There is access to the summit from Edale but it is just that access, no use as a through route.

Thanks for rapid uploads especially in the middle of the week, that helps putting things into perspective with the crazy bad road conditions and closures here in Teutonia (in the past the " small disagreeing country") 🚗🚧👷‍😳😖😉😁😂🤣️

Oh man the British humor and sarcasm has me rolling.

If you are in the area in the future you could do a quick update short on it. 1 minute quick drone flyover + voiceover.

Ha! you think two years is a long time - go to the Isle of Wight and check out the Undercliff road from Ventnor to Niton - The A3055 Undercliff Drive previously linked Ventor and Niton but it has been closed since February 2014. Eight houses were evacuated and two remained cut off until a temporary access route was created in 2016. And now since the A3055 Leeson Road suffered a landslip in 2023 there are now only two roads serving the town of Ventnor. Now that will make a good story to cover...

Google Street view, May 2009 shows a sign, 'Road liable to subsidence'. They weren't kidding.

They completely recovered a road in parents town. The locals ran a book to see when it was dug up! I was two days off. Thanks Jon, interesting as ever. Safe travels.

When I was in Cuba 15 years ago the main road had been washed away in a storm. They chucked some hardcore down by the side and made a temporary road, life continued. In Japan they repair things to a brilliant standard within a few days . ...In the UK we just shut stuff.

£10 million final cost, at least. I can never understand why no-one turns these places into tourist attractions - they inspire a strong morbid fascination.

Yea... welcome to 'Fix nothing' Wiltshire. Never lived anywhere like this where they let the place just fall apart. Can't wait to move away

@richardharrold9736

2 ай бұрын

Try Surrey. Roads left to decay to the point of being downright bloody dangerous.

@IceCanine

2 ай бұрын

Fix nothing and charge you a fortune to live here too.

Take that price and either multiply it by 4 and double the expected time window to completion... its how these things go.

The mistake the residents of Lyneham (and Swanscombe in Kent) have made is to not matter to Whitehall.

"Repair and widen Clack Hill!" .. shhh, don't be silly, that would work!

@chrisdavidson911

2 ай бұрын

7.5T weight limit at one end though

I obviously need to setup a feasibility consultancy and get council contracts.. easy money.

I really wish that I had chosen 'Feasibility Study' as a career, now. Money for basically doing sweet F.A. for many years, and then chiming in with an obvious suggestion when the time is right. Money for old rope.

That construction site looks like it's about to join the road any minute 😂

if memory serves me right, it wasn't too long ago before the road collapsed, the road itself had recently been resurfaced. when the road was serviceable it was actually a really fun twisty road, i'm sad to learn of its fate as I've not been down that end for a good while.

Another similar one - A59 at Kex Gill between Harrogate and Skipton. That stretch of road isn’t that old, but has been closed due to landslides and subsidence many times. They are now building a new route, but more rain earlier this year closed the road again. Not sure when/if the kex fill part will ever open again

Same as the Bervie Braes in Stonehaven (coastal Tourist Rte on google maps)

@dough740

2 ай бұрын

That must be closed to traffic at least 20 years. I remember it was one way (downwards) in 1989, but can't be arsed googling when the landslip was....

@JimGDMAC

2 ай бұрын

@@dough740 It's 2 way until half way down then one way downhill only to teh bottom.

I've walked on that Mam Tor Road - there was no sophistication in the 'repairs' whatsoever. All they did was keep adding more and more bitumen/stone mix and in places it's over a meter thick... so basically just adding serious amounts of weight onto unstable ground. Designing a new road is the smarter option rather than just adding to the old one using old techniques. Soil pinning, geotextiles, retaining walls and drainage all need careful consideration based on ground investigation results and modelling which will need to look at the rate of shift (so monitor movement over time). There will need to be land purchased no doubt as the footprint will be bigger, draiange connections will need licences and maybe entire new runs, excluding protected spieces may be required and there may well be some legal battle with the developer that possibly caused the original slip? Sadly things aren't instant. However 2 years is more than enough! Personally I'd have just looked at widening and improving the shorter of the diversion routes as the ground there looks more suitable anyway. Presumably we'd be in the daft place then where the developer that may have caused the mess would sue the council for making access to their development worse!

@user-mn4cc6bb7t

2 ай бұрын

I remember that we looked at what they did to repair the Mam Tor road when I was doing an Open University engineering course. The upshot was they made the situation worse instead of better and the point of teaching us about it was to emphasis how not to do things. It was interesting reading between the lines at the carefully worded circumlocutions in the accompanying text the OU sent us - presumably to avoid any libel actions against them.

Leashaw between Crich and Cromford in Derbyshire was closed for 3 years, opened again for a couple of months, and now its closed for another 2 years apparently. Landslip

This is the best video I've ever seen about anything

Anyone remember a little tsunami that devastated Japan a few years ago? Nuke power plant exploded and a large area had to be sealed off? Roads and railways were smashed to smithereens. Took them a few months, but everything put back as it was.

@firesurfer

2 ай бұрын

Amazing what can be done with unlimited money.

"to see if they got the work finished on time" hahahahaha you're funny. If they do that I'm buying a lottery ticket for the first time in 30 years

We had a road like that locally between Brighouse and Elland - closed for nearly two years and then when it finally opened again they decided do further road works on the bits that hadn't been affected by the landslip....

Rest and Be Thankful!

I don’t know if it’s the view or me but it looks like the land slide can only go so far because the hill stops, so removing that feature and putting a strong enough retaining wall in with a good drainage system might work. I understand why they have done this and I actually agree with it. If the land that slides is no longer there then it cannot slide anymore since the hill stops as it is only a gentle slope that terminates at the point the land slide stopped at.

Piling and a rafted road usually suffices, alas you are dealing with local government engineers. So it will probably be really expensive and not solve the problem. I have heard it said many times in several countries, no respectable engineer will take a job in local government. They are either incompetent or have taken employment for the leisurely workload and pension benefits.

im studying soil mechanics as part of my civil engineering degree, and this sounds like a right mess if i'm honest. the building works caused it, and to be fair, unsure what the councils planning permissions are like, but I can probably bet that they now require a full ground survey to be done before anyone starts digging! A quick look at the BGS Geoindex map shows it's had slip before historically! edit/ great video as per usual Jon lad :)

There is a similar problem between Harrogate and Skipton on the A59 around an area called Kex Gill. Road closed for the foreseeable future

They should consider beefing up the Clack Hill road

You should take a look at Lea Road between Crich and Cromford in Derbyshire. Thats a similar story. I used to use that road every day but its been closed for years at this point

very reminiscent of the rail line between telford and wellington in shropshire

The fields to the North of the road have been showing signs of shifting for years. A bit of preventive work, before the collapse, would have been cheaper, quicker and less aggravating to those that use the road. Of course preventive work is a dark art and likely to get you burned at the stake.

Railway has had several significant landslips recently and they can get everything open again in months rather than years. Shows how councils slow down necessary processes somewhat

As soon as this video started, I thought you must visit Mam Tor road as well in a future episode. Seems you were one step ahead! 👌

Wyndford road near cumbernauld has been shut to through traffic for over 10 years now due to it subsiding into an old mine

Was gonna mention about the road at Mam Tor, wondered if you'd been there, but no need to now.

Mam Tor road near Castleton. I remember riding up it on my motorbike the weekend before it collapsed. There were a couple of minor roadworks with traffic lights...then the whole thing collapsed midweek. And that was it, they gave up in the end...

I never knew why this road got closed when I was in lyneham. Thousands of people learned to drive there, and along that stretch of road there is a very notorious corner dubbed "crafty corner" thanks to many new drivers crashing along it 😂

In Sweden a part of the E6 motorway north of Gothenburg collapsed taking cars, trucks and a bus with it. That road section will be closed for less than a year if everything goes as planned with the repairs

Ventnor to shanklin ,Ventnor to Niton Isle of Wight due to dramatic landslides closed perhaps forever ,we in Ventnor are slowly being cut off currently with only one route in which is danger of serious movement

Come to the isle of wight mate, we've got plenty of closed and soon to be closed roads here, its a fucking nightmare!

My ex used to live in Lyneham. Lovely Indian restaurant round the corner from her. Shame she was terrible really.

@IceCanine

2 ай бұрын

That lovely restaurant, The Spice of Asia, is still there and the food is still delicious!

From your pictures it looks like 4x4 vehicles have already found a short way round the break seeing the "tramlines"round the break. 😉

most of these pictures don't look like the place in question, i used to drive it every night at work and could feel the road profile changing as it started to subside . however since 2022 it has been shut. westbound divert is narrow, oneway, and def not suitable for anything much bigger tham 7.5 ton, eastbound a little longer but prob not good for hgv. best go m4 or divert through lyneham and calne. a bridge is a bloody stupid idea , the road ran the edge of a hillside not across a valley

There’s been a road closed due to a washed out bridge for three years near st Asaph, n wales😢