The Main Road That's COLLAPSED And CLOSED FOR OVER A YEAR! - A226 Swanscombe & Northfleet Kent

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It looks to me like we've a bit of an issue... there's some road missing. In this video we'll take a look at what's happened to the A226, a main road in Kent. It's been closed for well over a year and it's looking like it'll be closed for a lot longer than we might have first thought.

[@harveybrooks2597]

How a thin wall of chalk has been allowed to remain a road is the most amazing part.

[@Vanha21]

Safety margin was not a thing in past and safety in general was not first thing to consider.

[@geoffsclassiccars]

Not sure what's worse the thin chalk wall or the extremely stupid water mains pipe location !

[@btuckervideos4705]

Also, how it managed to survive as long as it did without significant issue is amazing too

[@tonys1636]

@@geoffsclassiccars Water mains are laid under roads as only the one permission required' not many from many different Landowners.

[@geoffsclassiccars]

@@tonys1636 thank you that's interesting! I was thinking from the point who approved planning permission for/surveyed location of the pipes although I understand choice would be limited

[@stunimbus1543]

Slight irony that the road demolished the building owned by a demolition company.

[@Andy-fd5fg]

i was thinking that too

[@markwhittingham7626]

I used to work there! Fortunately several years ago.....

[@stevekelly5166]

It also dumped a load of used tyres behind their toilet block.

[@295g295]

> 1:01 < Lancebox Group

[@KentRoads]

the collapsed road is still better than 99% of Kent roads

[@iamjimb]

I think Luton Road in Chatham is secretly being quarried

[@laurencecharlton8760]

Sarcasm is what makes this channel a must watch!! 👍👍

[@stephenwhite345]

Top quality sarcasm too with an air of carefree cynicism 😊

[@patrickphair488]

Really !

[@mrapps135]

Best fact I know as being not far away from here is the locals actually held a birthday party once the road passed the first anniversary of the collapse

[@longbar2344]

happened on a closed road here in Swindon after lockdown. short bit of road closed for over a year then took another year to finish

[@mwstewart]

How British 😊

[@typesetter_real]

heard about that lmao

[@Mikas60]

What did the road wish for?

[@frankupton5821]

There's no problem that can't be made worse by lawyers.

[@oldblueshirtguy]

Imagine a world without lawyers.... 🙂 kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3iWppiXYq2pr5Y

[@garethaethwy]

There's no problem that can't be made worse by Thames Water...

[@fowlerpower95]

reading this comment just after the election. heck

[@52egdim]

Privatising water was such a good idea

[@tomcat2395]

that road is amazing or terrifying depending on if you drive off it. You cant blame Thames Water, you see they need to spend billions on shareholder dividends which are far more important than maintenance

[@medler2110]

Well you might have a point, but don't expect nationalisation to improve how these utilities are run, just after privatisation I worked on the digitising the old paper maps of the Yorkshire Water network, the maps were ancient and it was obvious that they hadn't been kept up to date or nobody had a clue where most of the pipes were, what they were made of or how long they been there.

[@tomcat2395]

There has been no investment in sewage treatment or reservoirs since privatisation so we don’t keep pace with the numbers of people who now live in the UK which is one reason they are full of shit. Keep costs high and maintenance low for dividends

[@UnitSe7en]

@@tomcat2395 Exactly. Private for-profit companies have no motivation to do anything but what they're forced to over whatever drives profit. How old are these anti-nat loons? They must not be old enough to remember a time before privatization and have their head full of their sociology teacher's nonsense.

[@alanhat5252]

​@@medler2110almost certainly that information was word-of-mouth & need-to-know but would have been thorough (though only mapped privately by the workers). It's an ancient way of preserving jobs, sacking the people with the knowledge has proved much more costly than retaining them.

[@alanhat5252]

​​@@tomcat2395indeed, paying shareholder dividends is written into several very strict laws but maintenance isn't a legal requirement at all 😢 (Although dropping cliffs on businesses carries legal penalties).

[@roderickmain9697]

Chalk and water. Water freezes, creates cracks. More water gets in, slightly acidic makes cracks bigger. Eventually the whole thing becomes unstable and cliffs collapse (ask anyone who has lived near Brighton to Eastbourne). So safest answer - take the whole thing down and build a bridge....or leave it and one day it will fall down on its own.

[@chrismoule7242]

This.

[@kabongpope]

Solution: chalk & cheese

[@philtucker1224]

Yes I think they have decided to do that. (It doesn’t cost them too much just not having that road there at all any more…) just more traffic through the back streets I expect..

[@mojonojo3]

Problem with this will be the lawyers - Council will want water co. to foot the bill for bridge, water co. will want to remediate only. and the lawyers will go round and round like hamsters until the end of time.

[@philtucker1224]

@@mojonojo3 correct. That road isn’t needed now anyway and they will just bring by-pass plans forward a few years.

[@davidioanhedges]

So somebody thought excavating both sides of the road away was a perfectly good idea, nothing that will ever have any issues ...

[@SekritJay]

Victorians. Wayagunnadoo, far as they were concerned if it was a problem for poor people it wasn't a problem

[@jonathanhall7334]

You can bet they're not around anymore 😂😂😂

[@garethaethwy]

In chalk, that notoriously strong stone able to withstand the effects of weathering...

[@thebrowns5337]

​@@mikecrimlis3366 but our current tory government and the huge for profit companies their lot keep selling our assets too also share the 'it's going to be a future problem for poor people to deal with' stance.

[@xr6lad]

@@thebrowns5337remind me of any privatised business Labour every renationalised or have promised to in the next election?

[@viewer922]

If you don't stop with your sarcastic sense of humour I will have to keep watching! Love it.

[@JoshLuck95]

I live in swanscombe, me and my partner drove up that road the morning of the road collapse, there was water gushing down the road from a burst water pipe, there are plenty other witnesses to this but thames water cannot seem to comprehend how on earth it could be their fault!

[@kramer26]

Don't be daft, nothing could possibly be Thames water's fault, as long as they're keeping their shareholders happy...

[@adamjolley8552]

I like this video so I pressed the button specifically for that 👉🏻

[@samholdsworth420]

This button 👎🏼?

[@plumberman4u]

Don't you mean 👇

[@davidgarside941]

I do love a specific button , so much better than an unspecified one 😂

[@Sarge084]

Really!? Real fans of this channel press the button *then* like the video!!!

[@aleccoates9094]

The drone shots for this one are great! Whoever decided this monstrosity of landscaping was a good idea is surely suffering an endless pothole filled journey in hell.

[@KallistiUK]

I grew up in Swanscombe, took the bus to school in Gravesnd along this road for years, walked by dog in the old chalk pits either side of the road for years and awlays marvelled a the stupidity of the chalk excavations going so close to the road. The fact that nothing was ever done to support this road before this happened is insane, even though for decades it was the main route between Dartford and Gravesend before Bluewater opened and the Eurotunnel station was built and a load of new roads were built to give alternative routes.

[@ajw9533]

Thames Water, the original shitshow.

[@EdgyNumber1]

No. The original, literal, shitshow.

[@raymondflanagan9355]

Liked the "some sauces" blipvert.

[@Deepthought-42]

As a Statutory Undertaker Thames Water should pay for their negligence in not fixing the leaks.

[@stevecann3394]

What a cliffhanger that was 👍

[@stephenwhite345]

Corny but good😂

[@David_Crayford]

👏

[@callumduddle]

Wow haha, I was shocked to see you cover this story, This road has caused so much havoc in Swanscombe and Northfleet especially when there is congestion or an accident on the A2 which is pretty much every day. I used to use this road whenever there was a problem on the A2. And I dont see it being fixed anytime soon. 🙄

[@jonathonbrett-qn1ic]

A very unique road with a very unique problem Thank you again Jon brilliant

[@martywild6359]

Thames Water isn't going to pay, got too many shareholders crying over their profit dividend's.

[@Lambo5000s]

I live in Swanscombe and this has caused nightmares with traffic, for a good 6 months before this happened we were all reporting water leaks on this section of road and Thames water did fuck all.

[@johnabbitt690]

Oh look, that's were we live! Am I internet famous now? Another great video John, it was wicked, sweet, awesome!😊

[@MikeAJGriffin]

Used to take about 30 mins to get to Bluewater from Gravesend on a bus, on a decent day with not too much traffic. The diversion caused by this road collapse is so convoluted, it’s now genuinely quicker to get a train from Gravesend to Greenhithe, and a bus from there onwards to Bluewater. Not cheap but it’s probably an hour of your life not spent on a diversion that makes you wish to god you had a car.

[@wozwolf1]

Build a bridge, put the water rates up but deny any responsibility and add some ULEZ cameras, problem sorted 😅

[@ehsnils]

Ignore the problem because it's an SEP. That's a Douglas Adams approach.

[@afaulconbridge]

@@ehsnils only if its painted bright pink first

[@ehsnils]

@@afaulconbridge Now, how long will that take before someone decides to do that as a prank?

[@IndigoJo]

There's no ULEZ here; it's Kent not London.

[@wozwolf1]

@@IndigoJo its called humour, there's a emoji just for it 🤣

[@RollingThunder2020]

The first drone shot made me think "Oh, just a sinkhole..." then the second side shot made my jaw drop.

[@PiousMoltar]

For a significant portion of the video, I was thinking there was only a cliff on one side. I too was flabbergasted when I realised the reality.

[@cp4512]

Surely the water company should pay for the repairs…….. and pay compensation to anyone affected until the do pay to repair it.

[@philtucker1224]

Yes fully agree if they are found to be the culprits! ( stopping local leak repairs and increasing everyone’s water bill by 50% should be well worth it!) 😁

[@cp4512]

@@philtucker1224 naah, just stop the payment of dividends to shareholders. That would more than cover that repair.

[@philtucker1224]

@@cp4512 errr, do you have shares? The idea of buying share is to get a good paying dividend, hopefully better than an ISA or a bank deposit account. If you investment contacted you to tell you they were stopping dividends, then obviously you would immediately sell those shares and move them to an investment that pays dividends. Subsequently then the water company concerned would then crash. I’m surprised you were unaware?

[@ukar69]

Being on a parish council it's not unusual for there to be wrangling when it comes down to the responsibility and upkeep of certain features. Water companies, local councils, Highways Agency and landowners usually point at each other in a Spiderman type of way.

[@Vtarngpb]

Bloody Councils…

[@David_Crayford]

Fix the problem. Not the blame.

[@mojonojo3]

@@David_Crayford With blame comes a bill - the blame is the first thing to sort if you dont want the bill

[@geoffreycoan]

They need to start a consultation on what to do with the road, that’s real progress

[@zogzoogler]

Saw the title and thought it was the closed A59 Kexgill, commented, then I read the title. Standard KZbin protocol.

[@waerlogauk]

If the material is so valuable, the surrounding area was entirely quarried away. Why not finish the job quarry away the section with the road on it, leaving a ramp at each end to join on to the bridge and the continuation of the road. Surely this would be cheaper than building a bridge and would leave the road at a convenient level for the surrounding access.

[@waerlogauk]

@@DM-ur8vc Nice idea but I was thinking of a ramp up to the rail bridge level.

[@theresnobodyhere5778]

engineers dont do simple they gotta make it so complicated and 50 tomes more expensive,. HS2 you know 100 billion over priced

[@rickconstant6106]

The elevation change is much greater than it appears in the video, so this would be totally impractical, the gradient up to the top of the hill would be far too steep. The chalk is only valuable if you have a local use for it, such as cement factories, but they are all long gone.

[@theresnobodyhere5778]

@@rickconstant6106 yeh i agree but the boffins will want to do a tunnel and go under the railway then a ramp to no wheres and a bridge over the ramp and let it sit for 50 years and say ,WELL WE HAD AN IDEA A PLAN but it was crazy, so we abandoned it,, nice bridge though it won awards in its day

[@2DogsVlogs]

@@DM-ur8vc That would be fun but as we know with all councils, we're not allowed to have fun.

[@mathewcompton8669]

At last a great video explaining the dreadful situation we are in for more than a year and probably many more to come. Thank you.

[@Bigbluevwvan]

Don't worry Rishi will say he will fix it IF we elect him

[@VectorTracker]

But surely fixing this road might mean he can’t afford sky for even longer?😮

[@johnturner4400]

@@VectorTrackerno dishy for Rishi…

[@chrisshelley3027]

Is he going to fix it including any shit it was full of? If not he is so full of shit he has plenty to spare.

[@Oligodendrocyte139]

Starmer will try to get the non--doms to pay. And fail.

[@Oligodendrocyte139]

OK, so my slightly anti - Starmer comment gets blocked? Interesting censorship.

[@andymerrett]

Poor Cliff. That sign does make him look a bit unstable running around flailing his hands in the air as rocks fall on him from all of 2ft above.

[@typesetter_real]

My dad's business is in the industrial estate below the road and the closures really messed up their deliveries

[@stevekelly5166]

As a railwayman, I'd be more concerned about the railway running south of there between Swanscombe and Northfleet on a similar chalk embankment. The railway you show was constructed around 1999 and is HS1, or the Channel Tunnel line. They had to cut the chalk out of the A226 road and provide the bridge. Same happened to the rail route between Swanscome and Northfleet. EEK!

[@PhilipMurphyExtra]

Sounds like UK needs a new government that would sort everything out maybe

[@ChimpManZ1264]

It's councils that argue these matters. The Government issues funding for sustainable plans in order of top priority. The councils will often bicker and try not to take responsibility and in situations where the land affected causes conflicts amongst communities they let that delay action.

[@thebrowns5337]

​@@ChimpManZ1264Local authorities had their budgets cut by 50% quite early in the Tory reign. The Tories then told them social care was being decentralised and would be coming out of...local authority budgets. So they lost 50% and got a new spend which takes up between 70 and 80% of what is left of their budgets on average. To compensate them slightly the tories allowed local tax rises of 4-5% a year knowing the populus would just lay blame at the door of their local authority. It's a tory stealth tax and nowhere near makes up for what the tories took from us (it's all our money, it's our assets they are closing or selling) yet they get away with it and even gaslight the local authorities that are going bust, using them as political point scoring. They don't seem to notice all the tory ones that have already gone bust, some more than once. Meanwhile they are paying friends and donors for things like dodgy PPE, storing dodgy PPE, housing migrants that they refuse to allow to work or integrate (the guy that owns most of the housing just shot onto the Times rich list this year) and his sites are old publicly funded sites he bought for a pittence!

[@mrslimesmasher101]

''that would be chaos'' ''the chaos began'' get this man an oscar

[@tonypacke6954]

A very well put together piece. Brought back some memories as I used to work in an industrial unit on Lower Road, the other side of the railway. Used to drive down Galley Hill nearly every day before I retired in 2016. I always thought that to have a main road that was so constricted by excavations either side could mean issues for up keep. It would seem that is now the case. Glad I don't have to use a alternative route to get to work. They were happy days, although some of them weren't!

[@hattix6713]

There's a similar situation on the A635 in South Yorkshire. Some genius torched a car under a bridge. Road closed. Then opened as a traffic light controlled single lane. Then closed again. Traffic diverted through the two nearby residential and industrial areas. Heavy traffic and lots of it!

[@stefencooke]

Though there had sorted that by now

[@MelanieRuck-dq5uo]

I just love Jon's reversal of the importance of loss of water verses loss of internet!

[@RalfyCustoms]

Hello John, happy days, roads closed for over a year, who would have thought 😂

[@samholdsworth420]

It seems all of England is crumbling 😊

[@davenz000]

More than just the roads.......

[@rhisands2063]

I've heard that with global climate change, all of lower England will be underwater with current emissions levels in a hundred years. I'm gonna go rev my van for an hour, I can't wait a hundred years.

[@David_Crayford]

Better live here than Russia, IMO.

[@rhisands2063]

@@David_Crayford I mean, that is setting the bar super low though. What if I said the choices were here or the Bahamas? Or Okinawa? Or even Australia. I mean, now we're in a contest.

[@kgbgb3663]

@@David_Crayford Russian living standards in PPP terms are now higher than Britain's, according to data I saw recently. Russia is booming -- its economy has overtaken Germany's and Japan's in the last couple of years. Demand for skilled workers is sky high, and they take immigrants. (Though it helps if you don't have a record of unthinking Russophobia.)

[@derder454]

If you send a drone up and circle the area it looks like a piece of honeycomb where the chalk has been removed over the years in a multitude of similar places.

[@scottishcarenthusiastsandtrain]

Another brilliant and informative video Jon.

[@tylertheotaku9270]

Gran Turismo music as the end theme ❤❤❤❤

[@oddball_the_blue]

Awww those end credit tunes... * runs off to dig out Gran Tourismo 1, 2, 3 and 4 just to listen to the menu music *

[@Spike20101000]

"Built on a vertical pile of chalk, what could possibly go wrong". They could try and spin this, or just admit that it was always going to fail at some point and knock the whole lot down. They could use it as infill for a new road levelling out the land.

[@1258-Eckhart]

Danke! Fascinating revelation!

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot mate, appreciate it!

[@markjlewis]

Still enjoying the content and your wonderful sarcastic delivery. 😀

[@AutoShenanigans]

Glad to hear, thanks a lot mate!

[@gfdezxdfg]

thanks for the video and also thanks for the gt4 music at the end

[@HazyIndustries]

This was a main daily route for me in the lorry until it collapsed, really inconvenient if you ask me. Locals have said the local authorities probably won’t fix it due to the cost.

[@NikEastwood161]

Thanks

[@AutoShenanigans]

Thanks a lot mate, appreciate it!

[@timballam3675]

Everyone is trying to get out of paying for the repairs, the water leaks could have been caused by movement of the roadway and the movement of the roadway could be caused by water leaks. However rain water has a PH of 4.2 to 4.4 so will dissolve the chalk a lot quicker than a leak of hard water......

[@thebrowns5337]

The top is nicely sealed by the road so rain only hits the sides which will weather down over time but can easily be inspected. Water under pressure will cause serious erosion no matter it's PH. You can literally cut metal, granite... pretty much anything with water if you get enough pressure so it's easy to see how it will erode chalk, especially when left to go on for so long.

[@timballam3675]

@@thebrowns5337 the number of times I've heard that one.... Roads arn't impervious to water ingress. Why do you think national highways spends millions a year on waterproofing bridge decks?

[@thebrowns5337]

​@@timballam3675 the velocity and volumes between water seeping gently through layers of bitumen and stone vs jetting out of a pressurised pipe are vastly different though. Using your example for bridge decks they waterproof them because we use a salt/grit/urea mixture to spray our roads with in winter and the small amount of this that can pass through carriageway surfacing will, over time, corrode the steel reinforcement used in the concrete deck. The waterproofing isn't there because there is a massive flow. We dont waterproof arch bridges and the oartar is not washed out from above and I can show you many bridges where, if we exposed the deck and the fill behind the abutment you would see no specific drainage, just PFA or 6n - again demonstrating water flow and volume are not much of a consideration at all. I worked for many years in a 'structure' team and bridges were our main thing.

[@fredziffle1991]

2 obvious things here, decline of the water network and decline of the maintenance of our roads network

[@thebrowns5337]

all while taxes on the poorer folk in the UK and our national debt have gone up. Can't wait for the general election.

[@tobyjackman3212]

This is the best video I've ever seen about anything

[@StephyonYoutube]

I used this when I lived in Gravesend, always thought it was an odd road being like a chalk bridge across the mine made valley

[@katiemace8864]

Thank you for these Educational videos

[@doctorwalex]

Great. Love your sauce.

[@JHBEM]

Like the little subtitle clip of some sauce

[@chrishartley1210]

A similar collapse on the busy A6025 in West Yorkshire meant that the road was closed between Feb 2020 and Feb 2022. Instead of getting on with the work to repair the road, the council seemed more concerned with finding someone else to pay for it. The delays must have cost the local economy several times the actual cost of the repairs. It was 17 months before repairs started. I suspect there are many similarities with the apparent inaction at this site.

[@real_swiftydragon]

I’ve been there!! Always wondered what the road works were about. I guess mystery solved!!

[@LabTech41]

Removing the chalk and putting a bridge over the same span is probably the only realistic long-term solution; fortunately, the entire other side of the wall appears to be empty space, so the removal could be set up so that most or all of the debris would fall that way, and not further impact the occupied lots.

[@windy33a]

Delicious irony of a demolition company being...........demolished

[@steamingfish7724]

Don't expect it to be open again that quickly, there's a road near me that (partially?) collapsed in January 2021 and they're only just getting round to designing the fix, so I don't imagine it'll be fixed before 2026. This road in Kent will probably be closed until 2030, by which point they'll say that residents have done without it for 5 years and rebuilding it will cause induced demand

[@simonbeckett690]

Your forgetting that the road mentioned in this video is in the South East of England!!!! Not just outside of a small North Wales Town.....

[@miniscus5]

What a weird road! Will need to have a look when I am in the area

[@dodgydruid]

I have fond memories of that road back in the 70's hurtling along on my big purple Chopper (Raleigh not tadger) on the roundabout route from Gravesend to Northfleet swimming baths as they had closed the awesome Gravesend Lido and I did enjoy a good swim... I got into trouble for swimming across the Thames to Tilbury during a low tide, old man me today shudders at by a million to one chance I got across but was near exhaustion and got roundly bollocked by Essex police to go home and get even more roundly bollocked by parents. I didn't know a thing about riptides and underwater swirls, I just jumped in and went for it and by a fluke got there hehe It was thought my later contraction of meningitis was linked to being submerged in the then absolute filth the Thames was, although I never swallowed any, it could have gotten in nose or ears and started the infection that put me in a coma for 1 year ironically at Joyce Green hospital not far from where you filmed this :D

[@CakeboyRiP]

I am glad you recorded the sauces about of the road closure 😂

[@Vtarngpb]

Talk about a small disagreement…

[@marktickner7160]

Swanscombe’s big hole. They’re looking into it…

[@julianpenfold1638]

Reminds me of the Petersham Hole on the main road between Richmond and Kingston which was closed for over a year in 79/80. We had to get off the 65 bus, walk down some side streets and get on another bus on the other side of the hole. Road traffic was diverted via Richmond Park.

[@RSPYT]

That’s funny you’re there… I was there when it collapsed and I’d driven over it the day before it fell. The water pipe was leaking for MONTHS lol.

[@Gibbo263]

They could build a new road to the north of the area, with a bridge over the entrance to the tunnel, then knock down the old one and not bother to replace the section over the railway apart from maybe a footpath

[@kgbgb3663]

I was just coming here to say that. The tunnel portal on HS1 can only be about a quarter of a mile north of the A226, and if you joined up the roads sensibly it wouldn't cause anything like half a mile's extra distance on most routes. It could also open up the area to the north for development. (Though not being local I don't know whether that is desirable.) The existing route could be retained for pedestrians, cyclists, mobility scooters etc.

[@Philip471]

There's a similar situation down here on the south of the Isle of Wight, only replace "burst water pipe" with falling into the sea due to a lot of bad weather we had over several months. You should come down here and do a video on that. Also, the Military road here is meters away from the cliff edge at certain points as well.

[@richardvoogd705]

Similar problem here in New Zealand with the road through the Manawatu Gorge, with several landslides and slips interfering with traffic flow. The solution chosen here is to build what amounts to a bypass.

[@solariss452]

The ferry is too expensive. It's about 10 times the price of a Scottish ferry for the same distance. How can that be?

[@Trev5]

​​@@solariss452The Scottish ferries are great for Road Trip Island hopping down the West Coast 👍 Lucky for the Scottish population, the "Barnett Formula" means English's Tax payers subside the ferries, so a 30min ferry ride for car & two people is ~£16..!! Though the H&S on the ferries is a bit suspect at times.... So get what you pay for ..!! 😬

[@markdunsford2750]

There's a section of that same road (the A3055 coming out of Ventnor) that has been "temporarily closed" for ten years now and looks like it will be abandoned to nature and never reopen. Another section of the same A road leading into Ventnor collapsed recently and looks like it will share the same fate leaving a couple of narrow and dangerous B roads (one of which is also collapsing) the only thing stopping Ventnor being completely cut off. Worth a whole BBC documentary that one!

[@reecestanford426]

This road is round the corner from my work and I've lived in the area all my life, my dad remembers when they were meant to use the backfill from the channel tunnel to strengthen the cliff but put it into an area near cheriton to make an industrial estate. Alot of businesses are struggling because of this road being ruined. As far as im aware they're still arguing who's paying between Dartford Borough Council, Thames Water and Kent Highways. Oh and they're planning on redeveloping the area by the football ground in the future too so that road needs to be fixed asap

[@paulqueripel3493]

Thames water are playing the long game. Going to go bankrupt before anything happens and whoever takes over will have to pay (the government, therefore the taxpayer).

[@NoName-qz7xf]

Traffic gets even worse when the A2 is shut and there is even more traffic on those local roads.

[@IstasPumaNevada]

Gran Turismo music at the end there? Nice choice. :D

[@RogerNorman-q6x]

Used to use that bit of road often but wondered just how long it would survive. Glad I live in the Midlands now. Jon. You’re 1:07 slipping again no wicked, sweet, awesome at the end

[@davinasquirrel7672]

"whilst you can live for a few days without water, you've got hours to live without internet" 🤣🤣🤣

[@roysmith9733]

Thanks John, another great video.

[@rogeremberson6464]

The "experts" seem to have forgotten that chalk is water soluble, not solid, like granite.

[@simonmoore2380]

Well….it’s porous and relatively soft as rock goes. It isn’t water soluble……

[@thebrowns5337]

What makes you think they have 'forgotten'? They all know it but what can they do with an inheirted asset and no money? The only ones that can easily pay for decent inspection and maintenance are the privatised water companies who should have not let the pipe leak in the first place. But they just care about profit and our government encourages that stance by removing funding for the regulator and reducing oversight/standards these companies should work to.

[@chasc301]

The main road in the village of Hallsands in South Devon has suffered a similar fate due to an undermining by industry. Worth taking a read and then a visit Jon. Give the Saab a chance to stretch its legs and also enjoy some D-Day era roads one of which is tidal. Lovely. Have a good week.

[@Itsa-sh]

remind me in 10 years when you do a video on how this road and cliff was completely removed but the council never finished the job and left the bridge stumps and abandoned the project 😂

[@db1418]

The A377 from Barnstaple to Exeter has had multiple subsidence issues, one took 3 years to finally complete another one is still there after at least 2 years controlled by traffic lights.... naturally it is full of massive potholes as well.

[@BerlietGBC]

I know this section of road well i used to visit the cement works that were there, I seam to remember there was a tunnel through it to allow access to each side of the road, first time I went into the cement works I was amazed at the road sitting up on this slender piece of chalk

[@PA3456]

They also have the issue of gaining access from the bottom apparently from the industrial estate great vid by the way

[@markwhittingham7626]

I used to work at the firm that was partially crushed! Fortunately it was several years ago...... This road was Very Important. We have just got to hold our breath to see what happens.....

[@shaun30-3-mg9zs]

Hi Jon, We have a similar problem in Wrexham ( the county ) 8 miles south of Wrexham on the B5605 at Cefn Bychan / New Bridge in January 2021 after a storm had washed away the the bank where the bridge support holding the road. This road was used as a diversion route for the A483. Over 30 years ago this route was the A483 before it was down graded to the B5605 when New Bridge and Pentre was by-passed and the A483 had a new route. Great video

[@pastymansixtynine]

I’m owning up to nothing after driving artics on that road for years, there’s talk of a lower level bypass going via the outside of the industrial estate. The alternative route is out to the A2 then come off a the Bean interchange towards Bluewater, this brings you out at the Blue Star junction, M25 J1, named after a cafe many years ago, today it’s a BP petrol station.

[@blisteringbarnaclesmagnets6364]

Afternoon John more devastating is no internet 🤣🤣⚓️👍🧲

[@Darryl_Frost]

We might have to start planning a committee to evaluate the possibility of planning a study on the impact of a possible evaluation of the potential of the cost of the planning organization of the impact evaluation.

[@PiousMoltar]

Wow what an absurd road, I had no idea it even existed.

[@johnoneill5661]

You really really wouldn’t want to go off the edge of this road 😮

[@christophzeiner697]

Remove the cliff and build a bridge. Better safe than sorry.

[@thebrowns5337]

Does it even need a bridge? A ramp at either end (one for the road junction and one for the existing bridge) would be far easier and cheaper. Bet the water company would argue against that due to the loss (and regaining) of elevation causing friction in the system.

[@Jehty_]

​@@thebrowns5337is there enough space for two ramps? That stretch of road is around 260m long. Jon said the cliff was 10m tall, so at let's say a 6% gradient each ramp would need 166m.

[@thebrowns5337]

​@@Jehty_You wouldn't need to go all the way down to ground level - leave the last 3m or so to reduce elevation change.

[@Jehty_]

@@thebrowns5337 then each ramp would still require 116m. Of course they might go steeper, or elevate the ground even more, but I would assume that at some point a bridge is just cheaper and better.

[@artfulbodger78]

I used to work in Northfleet and living in stone, used this road day in day out for years over 10 years… There wasn’t a week that went by where it wasn’t being dug up for one reason or another. But it’s typical of the local councils to drag their feet over this, like they do with everything else in the area. this road won’t be sorted for years..

[@Return_oftheMac]

You used to work and live in the area, but still blame the 'local councils' when none of the local councils (Gravesham and Dartford) are remotely responsible for roads. The 'local highway authority' is actually Kent County Council.

[@artfulbodger78]

@@Return_oftheMac I still live in the area. Stone/ horns cross to be precise. And even though you say it’s down to KCC to sort the roads out, it’s also down the the relevant councils to put pressure on KCC etc as it affects their constituencies regarding businesses home owners etc. Not to mention the relevant transport infrastructure as they have to go on bigger detours that add time and costs to their services. If one doesn’t want to listen to the others then situations such as this major through road closure will never get sorted.

[@Return_oftheMac]

@@artfulbodger78 True, but I just wanted to point out that the 'local' councils can't honestly be accused of dragging their feet. I have worked in local government before, including on similar issues, and it has always been private companies or landowners denying responsibility and gragging things out through the courts, in the hope that peopel will mistakenly blame the council and put misallocated pressure on them to fold (and shell out more taxpayers money than they should). Thames Water must love seeing people blame the Council here, anything to divert responsibility from them.

[@artfulbodger78]

@@Return_oftheMac The locals of Swanscombe and northfleet have been blaming TW as well. That small stretch of road has been dug up more times than people care to think. It became a rarity to drive along that road for more than a week without it being dug up due to water leaks. It was like a patchwork quilt once they’d done what they needed. So it’s hardly surprising the chalk cliffs gave up in the end. But residents etc really do feel the local councils ain’t doing enough. The council’s should be putting so much pressure on all those involved to get the situation resolved because they are all fed up of the high street and small residential roads around swanscombe being used as rat runs by motorists and mainly foreign hgvs. But from experience with DBC after the big debacle years back regarding the Tesco fiasco. Most have lost faith in both DBC and Gravesham borough council now.

[@norrisollie]

There is a road in Leigh on Sea that has had temporary traffic lights for over a year, maybe two, due to it being on the side of a cliff, and badgers have burrowed under the road causing risk of a slip and subsidence!

[@Imp-mq1be]

more gran turismo 4 music, love to hear it incorporated in such great videos

[@ChrisBeevor0511]

Thanks for that! I found myself humming along to it and thought “where do I know this music from?” 😆

[@Imp-mq1be]

you know it from the best racing game ever made

[@djones-np8ik]

This is just one part of many similar roads in the area, some of the quarrying has been backfilled with various rubbish and building and other waste, the pits Bluewater shopping Centre was built in was supposed to be reinstated after Blue Circle finished quarrying, but the local government body responsible for the mineral rights extraction aggreement couldn't find that part of the documentation when quarrying was completed also as the water table was breached fresh water from the aquifer is now being pumped 24 hrs a day into the Thames to prevent the shopping centre from flooding. Maybe next time theyre contemplating a hosepie ban, someone should turn the pumps off!

[@peteraudley5628]

We've had a few collapses in margate . Normally because of southern waters burst pipes 😢