Update by Dave Eden
Afternoon all.
As anyone passing the works at Deepdale can see we are approaching completion of the project. All major works with the water mains have been completed and the main focus now is returning the area to normal as much as possible.
The site team are working to remove our temporary access roads and paths, complete surface structures and spread topsoil to previously green areas. Unfortunately, the green areas cannot be seeded at this time of year as frost will kill the germinating plants. It is also too cold to begin rebuilding the stone wall at the west end of the aqueduct as mortar will not set properly below 4⁰C. Theses works will be completed as soon as the weather allows.
The weather does not affect planting of hedges or fencing works so these should be starting in the next couple of weeks.
Northumbrian Waters aqueduct, locally known as the Silver Bridge, remains closed to the public for the time being as we are still working on the westside and cannot currently provide safe access. We will open the route as soon as we can.
We have extended the traffic management on Lartington Lane up the hill slightly to allow us to replace some missing kerbs but this will be reduced again in the next couple of days.
Final resurfacing of Lartington Lane is currently booked for the 2nd week in February and will require some alterations to the traffic management as the surfacing is on both sides of the road. One lane will always be open. Once this is complete we should be able to remove the traffic management entirely although some traffic control may be required for the remaining reinstatement works.
Final, there is no denying this has been a challenging job with several unexpected issues, unavoidable changes and extra works causing the project to take much longer than originally anticipated. As you can appreciate carrying out the extra work now rather than coming back again in a few months’ time was only logical and has reduced disruption in the long run.
Our main concern has always been that the water supply to the many thousands of people in Barnard Castle and the rest of Teesside was never interrupted or compromised, which I am please to say was achieved. That this was also achieved safely and too a high quality is a testament to the professionalism and hard work of the team as a whole.
As always, thank you for your continuing patience.
Dave
Please Login in order to comment on this update.