RESIDENTS and motorists face up to eight months of noise, traffic jams and other disruption arising from a major project to renew old water mains 60ft below the Manchester Ship Canal at Stockton Heath.
United Utilities will replace four mains in a tunnel dating from the time the canal was built in the 1890s on the Ellesmere Road side of London Road swing bridge.
The tunnel is almost permanently flooded as a result of water seeping through from the canal.
The tunnel will have to be pumped out during the operation and although night work is not envisaged, pumps may have to run through the night to prevent the tunnel flooding again, according to project co-ordinator Bob Dykes.
He told Stockton Heath Parish Council: “The tunnel continually flooding is one of the reasons the mains have corroded.”
The project will involve work along the A49 from the traffic lights at the Gainsborough Road-Loushers Lane junction to the swing bridge.
It will also involve closing half the width of Ellesmere Road from the swing bridge to the entrance to St Thomas’ Church Hall, with hoarding placed along the centre of the road.
For a period of 6-8 weeks, Ellesmere Road would be completely closed to traffic.
Mr Dykes said there would be widespread consultation with residents, businesses, the police and the local authorities. It was inevitable there would be some disruption, but every effort would be made to minimise this.
Work was likely to start around the end of August, avoiding Stockton Heath Walking Day and the Stockton Heath Festival in July.
The old tunnel also carries gas and electricity mains, telecommunications cables and the hydraulics which operate the swing bridge. There are five water mains – four used for drinking water and one for raw supplies which is to be abandoned.
Mr Dykes said the project was part of a wider operation to improve water supplies to cater for the growth of Warrington in recent years.
9 Comments
If the mains have corroded and the tunnel is constantly flooded with canal water is the water we are all drinking ok? Just wondering as a UU chap came to our house a few weeks ago to test the quality of our drinking water for bacteria etc but I was on my way out so he couldn’t do it and never came back……they have never been before so why now? Another wonder……why didn’t they do this work at the same time that they were putting in all the new water mains from Appleton and along Ellesmere Road etc as it was all closed off then anyway.
Ah well, I guess it must need doing and UU were pretty organised when they did the last lot of work around here. One things for sure it will cause the traffic chaos in Stockton Heath as any little change in traffic management or morotway congestion always does. People will detour and use Chester Road swing bridge and Latchford swing bridge instead so more delays than usual there too no doubt …and added to the major Winwick Road works perhaps we should all buy push bikes. Cant be helped though eh 🙂
Can’t help wondering whether any of the other services in this tunnel could do with some work doing while it’s pumped out. What do we think the chance are of a bit of joined up thinking between the various different utility companies?
Nil!!!
Maybe the other servies have already been looked at Inky and they are OK. I often see men in bright coats and harnesses on Ellesmere canal bank near the swing bridge going down a ‘hole’ (or looking down it anyway) so presumably they check it quite regularly. Now would I like to go down it and 60ft under the canal when waters seeping into it… no thanks.. but if anyone from UU is reading can they take come PHOTOS next time they are down there so we can all see what it’s like… I’d love to see them 🙂 Might give them my camera when the work starts and see if they will take some for me in exchange for me not moaning about the traffic delays 🙂
ooooh forgot to ask… WHY is it going to take upto 8 months to do this little bit as it only took a couple of weeks to replace all the old water mains along Ellesmere and that included diggin the holes, putting the new huge plastic pipes in and resurfacing the road ?
The water mains in the tunnels are under pressure, much higher than the surounding water in the tunnels, theres no chance of the supply being contaminated. Your water is safe and clean. The pipes are aging and need replacing so they do not leak, United Utilities are committed to undertake this work.
The work could take up to 8 months as we are working deep under ground. The tunnels are 20 metres deep, very dark and are less 2m in height. The contractor working inside is very specialist and special procedures are required to undertake such work. The work in the tunnels will take us the longest amount of time; work in the roads will be much less. A full press release and consultation has not yet been undertaken as we are still in the early stages of consulting the community.
We have photos and yes its a scary place to work. Once we have an article up on our website I’ll get a photo or two posted.
Good news we are working with Scottish Power, Virgin Media, BT Openreach, Cable & Wireless in the tunnels (3).