Two Tunnels - Building the Route

A new shared path for Bath and North East Somerset

Progress on the ground ...

Overview

This page is in reverse order - current progress is added to the top of the page, scroll down for older news. The physical job of building the route actually started in 2006 when the deck of Tucking Mill Viaduct was cleared of trees - and in 2007 the local authority cleared the deck of Combe Down Viaduct (or bridge 14) in support of our second Combe Down Tunnel open day.

Some tasks are suitable for volunteers, and we are antipating arranging more work parties on the route. If you're interested, join our supporting Mailing list for notice of these. If you've photos, we'd love copies, please send them to the email address at the foot of this page.

Current work

Latest?

See the Blog  (coming soon)

October 2009

The first engineering survey reported a pretty clean bill of health, but appeared to overestimate the engineering risk in reusing the major structures. Sustrans commissioned two further engineering surveys to better quantify this risk and it's now identified as within acceptable limits. Preparations for the build phase continue ...

June 2009

With the arrival of the route's project manager, we don't expect work on the ground to start instantly. We know that work is now in hand to put the projects 'Build phase' into good order. Also, a condition of the planning application for the core of the route is that work starts on the ground within a certain timeframe ... watch this space. The memorandum of understanding is now waiting on the results of a structural survey of the projects three major structures, this we understand has been commissioned and will report in July.

May 2009

A project manager/engineer was apppointed by Sustrans in March and is now working to create the Two Tunnels route. The signing of an important milestone 'Memorandum of understanding' concerning the work, between the B&NES and Sustrans, is the more keenly anticipated as it's a vital step for the project.

December 2008

While there was a very encouraging meeting between Sustrans chief executive and B&NES at the start of the month, we're still concerned that the two bodies show signs of wanting to get every last aspect of the route in place before starting construction. Our view is that there's an unprecedented opportunity to build the route in 2009-10 - soaking up a small part of the current slack in the construction industry, and that this very much justifies making an early start while managing the small amount of risk that remains. The physical work is actually comparatively small - most of the heavy lifting was done by our Victorian forebears. More shortly ...

November 2008

Various paperwork is falling into place - and in particular, an agreement from the council as to their level of support has fallen into place. You may have heard the thump. Sustrans and the local authority are now working on drawing up a formal contract between the two bodies - and also on the preliminaries to appointing a contractor for the works involved.

September 2008

Construction having stalled, various obstacles are now almost resolved and we anticipate real progress, or news of it, shortly. We're now anticpating a decision from B&NES that they'll support the project with £200,000 funding and a further £200,000 to follow. There are also some legal loose ends to tie up - which is anticipated for December 2008. This may sound familiar to those who've supported the project since 2006 ...

August 2008

Why no progress listed here? See May 2008 below. We're working to resolve issues between the partner organisations - various obstacles are showing strong signs that they will be resolved and we trust we're not going to need to call on our wider support group for help. Also, several of our supporters are also involved in the King Bladuds Pigs project that has added so much colour to the streets this summer - the pigs are both fundraisers for the Two Tunnels project and ambassadors for it.

We also wish our project manager the best for his three month sabbatical.

May 2008

Why no progress listed here? The local authority and Sustrans are sorting out some procedural stuff.

April 2008

Little physical progress this month - but things *are* happening. 'Sustrans' are busy signing agreements with the lottery people - this work will begin to release the 'Connect2' funding for the Two Tunnels route. Sustrans and Bath and North East Somerset Council have met to identify some holdups ... in signing off the route's *planning permission* and it's now hoped that this will finally be done in the week commencing 20th April. That in turn will allow various other negotiations to make progress. Also, various land negotiations are progressing, a licence agreement has been negotiated for the use of Tucking Mill Viaduct, and methods identified for its repair. The digging out of Devonshire Tunnel is now expected for September 08 - though it may still go ahead in May/June. Watch this space.

Combe Down Tunnel March 21st 2008

The tunnel had a 'Fitting' today - it was measured up for a 'Full height' steel barred gate fitted in place of the current arrangement. This will allow the tunnel to ventilate itself, allaying concerns for the quality of the air inside this 1 mile 69 yard structure.

Tucking Mill Viaduct March 17th

Visit from Sustrans bridge engineer to assess the condition of the viaduct parapets. More on this shortly.

Lyncombe Vale Open Day March 15th 2008

Our first working party for supporters, and a wet one - despite which around 30 volunteers cleared the entire length of the Lyncombe Vale section of many saplings, brambles and also much junk and rubbish. We divided the stretch into six lengths, and the party split into groups to tackle a length each.

The local authority supported this by sending a truck to collect the more unpleasant rubbish. Much vegetation was also stacked to form additional living space for wildlife.

Owing to the weather and the pace of the work we've only a few photos of this work party - select the image above - women and children are woefully under-represented in the images, mainly because many were among a camera-less group that threw themselves at the Devonshire Tunnel rubbish dump, transforming its appearance because the dodgy rubbish ended the day with a ride in a council lorry ...

Huge kudos to all of you, you've helped the route on its way.

Linear Park, early March 2008

The local authority are working to remove some undergrowth and just a few trees to make way for the Devonshire Tunnel excavation (scheduled for summer 2008) and also the bridges at Millmead Road and Dartmouth Avenue. The intention is to remove as few trees as possible to allow the route to be built. Additional trees will be planted in compensation for those lost.

Tucking Mill work party February 2008

A short stretch of the trackbed north of Tucking Mill viaduct is owned by Wessex Water, who kindly permitted us to give the length a basic clearance along with the main task of this work party which was to fit an access hatch to the security wall protecting Tucking Mill Viaduct's deck. This involved around 2 hours intensive work with a petrol cutter for Nigel Bryant. The hatch is needed to allow access for Sustrans bridge engineer to inspect the structure and especially the viaduct parapets to plan a way forwad to bring the viaduct into use.

As well, apart from also clearing the length of trackbed, a large amount of ivy was removed from the first arch of the viaduct itself. Select the work party image above for an album of around 70 images from the day.

Bridge 14 clearance September 2007

Bridge 14 is the three arched viaduct immediately before Combe Down Tunnel. Its deck was reasonably smothered with saplings and brambles until the local authority cleared it in support of our September open day for Combe Down Tunnel. The route through the cutting beyond remained a bit of a jungle at this time.

Tucking Mill Viaduct clearance October 2006

Nothing to do with us, but Tucking Mill viaduct's deck saw the long overdue removal of trees and saplings. We're grateful to whoever undertook this essential task.

Spring 2006

Just possibly a side effect of the Two Tunnels campaign, but perhaps coincidence - parts of the neglected Linear Way, especially the section south of Dartmouth Avenue 'Missing bridge' had become almost impassable with vegetation overhanging the route - B&NES parks department took this in hand in Spring 2006 ...

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