Update on road closure by Woodvale resident Cath Regan.
United Utilities and Sefton Road Management team are currently on the scene to alleviate and fix the urgent problem affecting drivers commuting from Formby to Southport. The area allegedly holds the heaviest traffic in the North West (according to traffic workers on site), so the problem needs fixing urgently and fast.
At the time of writing, United Utilities are still working to find out what has caused the problem.
We believe that further investigation of the road collapse has shown that the underlying sand is wet where it is pulling away. Consequently, there is something leaking into the ground underneath. With it all being sand-based underneath, it could be creating concerns regarding the destruction of subsurface structure.
The Siemens Company are being requested to assist with traffic management, to find solutions to aid motorists. Apparently, while Sefton Council wishes to fix the hole ASAP and get traffic back into normality, it is United Utilities who are now responsible for finding the problem and rectifying it.
Cath Regan said: “I almost witnessed an accident, due to a truck turning into oncoming cars. The entire scene is chaotic and must be sorted out fast. Apparently, the roads are mainly held up by tarmac but underneath mostly sand, so the warm weather softens the tarmac, then when it rains again it causes the road to collapse.”
“The scene I witnessed was very dangerous, the traffic from Formby was all turning left into the coast road and a truck was waiting to turn right. The truck decided not to wait and turned right into the path of an oncoming car narrowly missing it “.
Cath is calling for United Utilities to deal with these concerns, as residents will see more and more of these problems occurring if measures are not put into place and make the road structures stronger underneath.
Formby businesses say they have been a lot quieter today and have lost income due to the traffic mayhem.
Two traffic management men from King Construction, who originally dug out the hole to search for the problem, were heroically diverting traffic.
The hope is to possibly change the traffic lights to continually flow green into the Coast Road and divert other traffic around Ainsdale to alleviate the backup.
At the time of writing, there was no sign of any councillor being in attendance from any party.
See also
https://www.otsnews.co.uk/formby-bypass-gridlock-afternoon/
https://www.otsnews.co.uk/woodvales-liverpool-road-bottleneck-when-will-it-be-sorted-out/
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