It is two years since storm water run-off caused a landslip on Kinka Road towards the Lighthouse end and threw into question the stability of a section of road west of the ‘Buddha Green’. In the interim period, geotech tests were conducted on the substrata of the road, consultants’ reports were commissioned by GLC, and options were considered to rectify what has proved to be a tricky problem.
In recent weeks a decision was finally taken and then with virtually no notification, plant and equipment rolled down Kinka Road and a Council contractor commenced major work.
A revetment wall was the preferred option to shore up a 10 metre section of the road at its most vulnerable point and this was installed over a period of three days. Much attention was given to the pattern of storm water run-off, the initial culprit, and a series of controlling measures have been undertaken. These include changing speed humps, altering the camber of part of the road edge, clearing the build-up of debris in the Lighthouse car park, deepening roadside gutters, and installing a rubble drainage pit where most of the water leaves that end of Kinka Road.
This last measure has unfortunately had a major impact on the visual amenity of the ‘Buddha Green’, and the revetment wall is certainly no attractive addition either, but with some judicious regeneration work, time should disguise what engineers deemed to be necessary roadworks.
Concurrent with the above, some improvements were also made to the storm water drainage at the other end of Kinka Road, in the area of the gabion walls, to keep run-off points there open and to mitigate a problem further down, where subsidence of the road shoulder is yet to be addressed.
John Allen