An important Lake District road closed by a major landslip will reopen on Friday, Westmorland & Furness Council have announced. The stretch of the A592 at High Kingate – halfway between Troutbeck and the Kirkstone Inn, just before the start of the Kirkstone Pass – was closed after the incident in November, says Cumbria Crack. The landslip partly undermined the carriageway.
Following the incident, measures were taken immediately to stabilise the ground and divert water away from the landslip site to prevent further collapse and diversion routes and signage was put in place.
Westmorland and Furness Council brought in expert ground investigation teams and work started before Christmas to undertake surveys on the carriageway and steep banking below, to determine the best way to repair the landslip.
Options, including carriageway realignment and building a tiered concrete retaining wall, were considered.
The authority said the agreed work was carefully designed to protect the landscape and improve the stability of the steep slope, protecting the highway and reducing the risk of future damage and landslips. The complex repair programme in a restricted location involved infilling the landslip area and rebuilding and strengthening the banking using special steel reinforcement bars (known as soil nails) installed into the slope.
A flexible steel mesh has been applied to help stabilise the surface, followed by topsoil, seeding and erosion‑control matting, to encourage vegetation growth which will eventually cover the mesh and soil nails.
A new retaining wall faced with natural slate has been built to replace the old highway verge and upper embankment and the road surface and drainage has been renewed.
Councillor Peter Thornton, Westmorland and Furness Council’s cabinet member for highways and ICT, said:
“We have been acutely aware the impact this closure has had on local communities and businesses that rely on this vital link.
“We set an ambitious target to get the job completed and the road reopened by the time schools finished for summer, which is obviously peak season for tourism.
“It has been a fantastic effort by everyone involved, from the council’s highways and capital programme teams, to our consultants and contractors, to complete this complex repair in such a challenging and restricted location.
“The project started in the depths of the winter and as anyone who knows this location will understand, it is very narrow, with steep banking above and below, and it’s not the easiest place to access.”
(Picture: Mapillary)
