Purpose

On 11/11/2024 Capital Board approved the
reallocation of £140,000 funds within the Bridge Maintenance
Capital Programme to address funding to repair the collapsed
Burnley Road (Laund) retaining Wall.
 
In November 2022 the "Burnley Road Laund"
Highway retaining wall supporting the A682 between Rawtenstall and
Burnley collapsed into the adjacent river.
 
The A682 is part of the resilient route
network and classified as a 3a priority main distributor road.
 
In early 2023 a project was established to
enable temporary measures to be installed to prevent further
collapse, protect public safety, safeguard essential utilities, and
allow the road to remain open.
 
In July 2024 funding was allocated for the
permanent repairs from residual funds within the retaining wall
programme and unallocated funding within the Bridges Maintenance
programme.
 
At that time, it was considered that the
funding allocated would be sufficient to enable completion of the
works however this is no longer the case. Forecast costs have
increased due to the need for additional temporary works protection
to high pressure water supplies to the Rawtenstall area. This has
had an effect on the programme, meaning that works in the river
will take longer with increased cost for dealing with higher volume
of water running into the Winter period.
 
Works are currently ongoing with one lane of
traffic under signal control. The site is barriered off with, no
footway provision due to limited working area and there is still an
open excavation to the river. It is in a safe condition but until
the works are complete, it is vulnerable to further damage if water
levels increase. The status of the route, the risk of disruption to
infrastructure and the vulnerability of the site mean that this is
the highest priority site currently in the bridges programme.
 
The anticipated cost of the proposed works has
increased beyond those originally envisaged due to the proximity of
major utilities and difficult ground conditions.
 
The current available budget is
£173,059.02. The estimated total project cost going forward
for delivering the work is approximately £310,000 and
additional funding is required to allow the works to complete.

Content

Ridwan Musa, Head of Highways Operations and
Design, on behalf of the Matt Towsend, Director of Highways and
Transport took a decision to reallocate £140,000 of funds
within the Bridge Maintenance Capital programme to address the
repair of Burnley Road (Laund) retaining Wall.