Gurugram: The public works department (PWD) has roped in Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhis civil engineering department to assess reason of the damage to the six-month-old rail overbridge (ROB) on Gurugram-Pataudi Road.

On Saturday morning, a large chunk of concrete fell off the two-lane Pataudi ROB on the Delhi-Jaipur railway line, leaving a six-foot wide hole on the flyover. The PWDs flyover was inaugurated in September last year, making traffic movement easy between Rewari and Pataudi.

A team of engineers from IIT Delhi will be visiting over the next couple of days. The team will assess reason of fault in earth retaining wall that is basically a wall consisting of interlocking tiles and it contains earth below the approach road. It is a sound technology used in every flyover. Few of the tiles slipped and earth subsequently also subsided with it as well as a bit bituminous portion of flyover in the Rewari side of the approach road, said Rajeev Yadav, PWD superintending engineer.

Yadav said that the restoration of the flyover comes under defective liability of the contractor who built it.

In Indian Railways terms, the ROB came at Level 48 crossing. The central portion of the flyover was built by the railway.

The damage has happened in the Rewari-side approach road, and it has nothing to do with the central portion nor does it has affected railway track, said a senior railway official.

The damage created panic among the local residents, and many demanded FIR against the contractor and erring PWD officials.

Sudhir Chaudhary, a Pataudi resident, said, This is a classic case of negligence that the flyover developed such a major fault within six months of operation. The hole could have caused accidents. Now, the flyover will remain closed for many days, and people will continue to suffer crossing the railway track.

A group of residents have lodged a complaint with the police, demanding an FIR in the case.

Meanwhile, the PWD on Sunday cleaned the underpass located about 100-metre from the existing flyover for locals to cross the railway track on Sunday.

Underpass was built by Indian Railways. But it was flooded and dirty, and people did not use. Now, we have got it cleaned to make it usable. Flyover opening depends on report and restoration timing that I cannot say anything about currently, said Yadav of PWD.

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IIT Delhi team to assess reason of Pataudi flyover damage - Hindustan Times

On a Tuesday morning in October, Los Angeles deputy probation officer Booker Waugh made his way down a nearly sheer hillside, just a few feet from the entrance to the 10 freeway heading east.

Waugh, 48, was conducting a field visit to one of his probationers, a man named Joshua Bey. Bey lives in the affluent neighborhood of Cheviot Hills not in a stately colonial house but in an orange tent, pitched between the freeway and a retaining wall, buffeted by old window blinds and a blanket decorated with kittens.

Hidden from the cars racing by below and the $2m homes above, Beys world is invisible unless you know where to look.

Booker Waugh does. Waugh is an officer with the Los Angeles county probation department, the largest agency of its kind in the nation. It oversees more than 35,000 adults under community supervision, meaning probation or parole.

Twenty of Waughs 38 clients are homeless. We do this every day, Waugh says about the challenges of his work. You cant let hopelessness get the best of you.

More than 4.5 million people in the US were under community supervision in 2016, the last year for which the justice department has released data. Thats twice as many people as the number of people incarcerated, and a 239% increase since 1980, according to a study from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

There isnt enough data on probation to determine the cause of this explosive growth with certainty, but we do know that the increase in probation has far outpaced any increase in crime. That suggests that departments have become more liberal with their use of probation. In the past few years, those liberal policies have been challenged by activists, scholars, and a remarkable number of top brass probation officials who aim to revamp what they view as a bloated, ineffective system.

But within individual departments, there are many probation officers like Waugh: drawn to the work because they want to help people who are struggling, and who see the job as equal parts social work and law enforcement.

Waugh, who has lived in south-central Los Angeles his entire life except for a stint attending the University of Hawaii, is a 15-year veteran of the probation department. Like most officers, he started his career in the county juvenile facilities.

I dont get an extra check for locking your ass up, Waugh says he tells new clients. Im here to work with you, Im here to help you. The less work I have to do the better.

On days when he goes into the field, Waugh sets out in the white Ford Taurus provided by the department, the radio tuned to a 90s hip hop station. He visits clients in their home, shelter, tent or place of work, if they have one, and tries to get a sense of how the client is navigating re-entry from lockup. Are they employed? Sober? Lucid? He asks them if they need anything he can help provide, from facilitating a ride to mental health services to providing train fare.

At a shelter in Santa Monica, Waugh meets a client of three months, Earl Love.

Loves hands tremble from Parkinsons disease and, like a significant amount of probationers in Los Angeles county, he has been diagnosed with a mental health condition. Waugh visits him once a month, and has connected Love to a telecare medical team so he doesnt have to travel to get support.

Love was incarcerated for most of his 46 years, he says. Ive been in the struggle all my life.

Waugh visits Earl Love, 46, a client at a Santa Monica homeless shelter who has been diagnosed with a mental health condition.

Later in the day, Waughs off to the jungle, the south-central Los Angeles neighborhood named after both its foliage and what Waugh calls its antics.

Hes visiting 55-year-old Derek Williams. Williams joined a gang in the late 1970s, but says hes done with that lifestyle. I dont carry guns anymore. I hear a car backfire, he mimics being startled. Im shell-shocked.

Williams says his probation has gone smoothly because he is unencumbered by mental health struggles and has been able to comply with probation rules, which are strict. Requirements vary. All probationers have to call in to a special phone line daily, report to their officers regularly, submit to drug tests when instructed and not carry weapons. Many must attend mental health or substance abuse classes. Some cant be around gang members if they have an injunction, others cant open a checking account if they were charged with fraud, still others cant access the internet unsupervised if they were charged with sexually assaulting a minor.

Those rules are there to help probationers, Waugh says, a safeguard to keep them from doing the same things again and again. Probationers can choose whether to follow them or not, he says. Still, he concedes, the rules stringency can be a setup for failure; if work hours coincide with required mental health treatment, for example, a probationer who skips the appointment to keep a job may end up back in jail.

The rules also make finding work challenging for those in re-entry under the best of circumstances even more difficult. Probationers may be told to come in to the office for a pop-up urine test with next to no notice, and given a narrow window of time within which to complete the test, though Waugh says they try to accommodate clients schedules.

Even for a probationer who truly wants to play by the rules and finish probation, its not easy. There are lots of barriers to being successful, Brian Lovins, the former assistant director of Harris county community supervision and corrections department and an advocate for probation reform, points out. People dont operate individually, theres a host of family and social systems that keep them pressured into where they are in the world.

Top left: Derek Williams peers out of the window in his apartment building. Top right: Jeffrey Chenevert, a truck driver and entrepreneur, visits the west LA office. Bottom left: Jarrad Durke, a homeless US Navy veteran, is at the west LA office for his monthly check-in. Bottom right: Earl Love shows off his photography.

Like most other probation officers in what Waugh calls inner-city Los Angeles, he currently has close to twice the number of clients he is supposed to manage. This means he gets less time than hed like with clients, and he has to make some choices about where to direct his energy.

You tend to drift toward the guys who want to help themselves versus the guys who keep getting arrested over and over, Waugh says. You have to decipher who wants my help and who is just here because they got put on probation out of jail.

Today, however, he passes the time in his cubicle, surrounded by Lakers paraphernalia and a Colin Kaepernick action figure.

Waughs client Jeffrey Chenevert, 46, comes by for an office visit. Hes been working with Waugh for two and a half months and has failed two drug tests. Chenevert says his medications are affecting the test results.

Waugh tells him to bring in the medications at his next visit so he can determine whether thats the case. But if you mess up again, he warns, Ill send the results in and youll be locked up again.

Because this is Los Angeles, Waugh spends a lot of time in his car. He drives from his west Los Angeles office to the central arraignment court downtown, where his client Keion Anderson is appearing before a judge on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon.

Arrested 20 days earlier, Anderson stands silently in a plexiglass enclosure, craning his head downward to speak through a small opening in the wall when called upon to answer a question. Waugh is there to speak on Andersons behalf, telling the judge that prior to the arrest Anderson had been reporting consistently. The judge rules that Anderson should be released soon and must report to Waughs office within 48 hours.

Waugh makes his way back to the west side, passing through the vast Skid Row area. The day is bright, sunny and warm. Men and women sitting in lawn chairs line the sidewalks, the Twice as Nice ice cream truck has carnival music blasting through its speakers.

Waugh parks and strolls down the middle of Crocker Street, as tents, carts and stacks of possessions dont leave enough room on the sidewalk for pedestrians. A former client, Donald Smith, 64, spots Waugh and shouts gleefully. Smith, a veteran originally from Alabama, was Waughs client for two years, through last spring. He soon begs off, confessing that hes high on meth and doesnt want Waugh to see him like this.

Imma call you when Im sober, he tells Waugh. I love you with all my heart.

He walks away. Waugh stands still for a moment, moved by the encounter. Hes glad that seeing him gave Smith a moment of reckoning. Just from that, being embarrassed, that might straighten him out.

Whether or not Waughs actions can really affect the course of Smiths life is debatable. Still, Waugh is on the front lines of the system, and its up to him to keep faith enough to carry on with the work.

This is cool, he says. This is why I do it.

This article was supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project

Original post:
'I don't get an extra check for locking you up': a week with an LA probation officer - The Guardian

Braden Fastier

Contractors work to restore a section of SH60 on Takaka Hill after part of the road sunk this morning. Work had been ongoing since the road was wiped out by ex-tropical cyclone Gita in February last 2018.

Drivers face longer waits of up to 14 minutes at traffic lightsand night-time closuresas work to rebuild the cyclone-damaged Takaka Hill road begins onfive new complex sites.

NZ Transport Agency'sprincipal project manager for the rebuild,Chris Robertson, said people using thehill road wouldnotice a change in how the single lane traffic wasmanaged from thisweek.

There would be a new position for the top traffic light which controls vehicle movements, he said.

Thework signals the second stage of the repairs needed to SH60, the only road access to Golden Bay, after ex-tropical-cyclone Gita caused extensive damage in February 2018.

Work will continue for the rest of theyear, aiming to re-open to two lanes by the end of this year.

READ MORE:* Work to start on major Takaka Hill road repair sites * Sinkhole delays Takaka Hill traffic as more heavy rain forecast* Golden Bay has busy summer as Takaka Hill repairs progress

For safety reasons, Robertson asked cyclists to avoid the hill if possible while construction wasunderway between mid-March and October 2020.

"There willbe heavy construction plant operating nearby and the road width will be significantly reduced," Robertson said.

Supplied

Map showing the shift in traffic signal location near the top of Takaka Hill, which will be in place in coming weeks.

Since 2018, road access between Riwaka and the top of the Takaka Hill has been controlled over the one-lane sections with traffic signals. A timer shows people how long they have to wait.

Robertson said for thecrews to get to the slip site at the top of the hill, the road must be reduced to one lane, and it needed to shift the traffic lights by 700 metres to include this area.

This wouldadd two minutes to wait times at the lights, increasing the total wait time to up to 14 minutes at each end of the stop points.

He said they planned tostart moving the lights on Mondayor Tuesday, weather permitting.

"This shift will take about two weeks to complete so during this time manual stop/go traffic management wouldbe used.

Retaining wall designs hadnow been completed at the five significantly damaged sites on Takaka Hill with construction underway from mid-March.

The remaining five sites wereall significant pieces of work with geotechnical risks, and there had been a huge amount of planning work needed before this work could safely get underway, Robertson said.

NZTA

Work on the new sections of the damaged Takaka Hill road are set to start in March

Repairs to the 10less complex sites were completed in 2019.

Before on-site works get underway this month the safety barriers around the five major sites needed to be replaced, taking around 10nights.

The road wouldbe closed to do this work, with an opening for essential travel. The times and schedules wereyet to be confirmed.

"The night closures will increase safety for maintenance crews, significantly reduce the number of day-time disruptions on Takaka Hill road and enable better quality maintenance and slip prevention work," Robertson said.

Access will be available for emergency services throughout the night closures.

Link:
Longer waits and night-time closures at Takaka Hill road rebuild - Stuff.co.nz

Everything is awesomeagain.

The artist behindLower Hutt's Legoretaining wall put paint to concrete for the first time in months following a holiday and some "sick leave".

A rainbow stripe over the face of one of the Lego characters on the wall at the foot of the Wainuiomata hillwas added on Sunday eveningsignalling the return of the artist known as Block Vandal.

The artist, who does not want his identity revealed,had not added to the wall since December having gone on holiday and then brokenhis collarbone in a cycling accident.

READ MORE:*Lego Batman and Wyld Style among victims of Lower Hutt vandalism attack*Artist on a mission to transform concrete slabs into cheerful Lego art*Boon Street Art Festival enhances Hamilton's arts credentials one wall at a time

"It feels good to be contributing to the community again."

He'dreceiveda few messagesover summerfrompeople asking about his absenceandsaid everyonehad been very supportive.

MATTHEW TSO/STUFF

Street artist Block Vandal made his latest addition to the Wanuiomata Lego wall on Sunday evening after three months of holidays and 'sick leave'.

The latest addition was a nod to the rainbow community during pride month.

"The projecthas always been about our people. It's just to acknowledgediversityin ourcommunity - everyone deserves love."

Over a dozencharacters feature on the wall includingLego Batman, Deadpool andWyldstyle.

KEVIN STENT/STUFF

Block Vandal has been transforming the blocks in a retaining wall at the foot of Wainuiomata Hill into Lego heads since last year. The wall now features about a dozen characters.

Block Vandal said he had plenty of time on hisfurlough to develop some new ideas for the wall and would continue to scan social media for suggestions.

Havingmissedall the prime painting weather over summer hewas keen to make up for lost time.

He was unsure if his ambitionto paint one concrete blockeachweek wasoverlyambitious with a nigglycollarbone but would be doing his best to bring colour back into people's lives.

* Block Vandal's work can be seen onhis instagram accountblock_vandal_.

More:
Lego head street artist back in action after falling of his bike - Stuff.co.nz

KNOWLTON One of the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 was closed through the Delaware Water Gap on Tuesday with a dozen-person crew doing inspections and repairs, said a local official.

Knowlton Mayor Adele Starrs, who has been vocal in seeking full disclosure from the state about its rockfall mitigation plans for about a mile of the highway, said she drove through the area on Tuesday, saw the closure and work crews, and stopped to question a supervisor on the scene.

He said they were inspecting and doing minor repairs, Starrs said. Im not sure it takes 12 people to make minor repairs.

Over the past two weeks, pictures have been posted on Facebook and published in local newspapers showing possible erosion under a retaining wall which is part of the structure that holds the travel lanes of the highway as it moves through an area known as the S-curves.

In that same area NJ DOT has proposed building fences and other barriers, as well as cut back a part of Mount Tammany, to lessen the chances of rocks falling from the peak which rises about 1,200 feet above the highway.

Mount Tammany forms the New Jersey side of the Delaware Water Gap, a nationally recognized natural wonder and which lends its name to a unit of the National Park Service straddling the Delaware River which flows through the gap. The Pennsylvania side of the gap is known as Mount Minsi.

During an open house last summer a resident claims she gave a DOT representative photos of the erosion under the wall.

Starrs said Tuesday that the town now has documentation that the woman also forwarded a letter with the photos attached to DOT officials in July.

Another set of photos taken in late Februrary was posted on the Facebook page of the I80CoalitionDWG, a citizens group that formed last year to also get information from DOT and recruit citizens who are experts in the field, to look at the states reasoning and data on the rockfall mitigation project.

With the publication of the pictures early last week, DOT sent responses to the New Jersey Herald, as well as organizers of the Facebook page and township officials in Knowlton and Hardwick.

While the responses came from differing offices within the department, the wording was identical and that DOT NJDOT appreciates residents bringing potential safety concerns to the attention of the Department, and of the specific concerns, Our inspectors conducted an initial evaluation of the structure and found the erosion poses no short-term safety concerns at this time, but the condition does need repair.

One possible cause of the undercutting of the wall might be the roads drainage system with outlet pipes contained in several locations in the wall. Water drains off the face of the cliffs and is directed by channels into several culverts which travel under the highway.

Over the years, lanes of the highway have been closed because of water overflowing the drains and onto the road.

Also talked about as a cause for the erosion is flooding on the Delaware River. The wall sits atop the north bank, several feet above the river.

The latest historic crest of the river 13th on the list of top floods was in late January 2018, when the river flowed at 20.08 feet at Tocks River, about four miles upstream from the gap, where flood stage is 21 feet.

In 2011, there were four flood events with higher floods with the highest on record in 1955, before the interstate was completed. The second highest reading of 33.87 feet was in 2006.

The I80CoalitionDWG is also sponsoring a petition signature drive on Change.org and by Tuesday had about 2,300 names toward its goal of 2,500 signatures.

The petition is aimed at getting DOT to stop the rockfall mitigation project until all other alternatives have been thoroughly studied.

The Knowlton and Hardwick township committees, as well as other citizens groups, are also demanding that a formal, long-form Environmental Impact Statement be completed before further work is done, other than fixing current damage to the highway system.

Continue reading here:
DOT doing inspections, repairs on I-80 in Delaware Water Gap - Pocono Record

Published: 15:04 Updated: 15:05 Friday 28 February 2020

A busy road in Whalley is to benefit from repairs to its retaining wall.

Accrington Road in Whalley will see major rebuilding of masonry sections and repairs to its pointing on the retaining wall.

Similar work will also be done on the A56 at Lowerford and Foulridge, in Pendle, and Bacup Road and Accrington Road in Burnley.

Lancashire County Council has been awarded an extra 3.16m. for road repairs following a successful funding bid to government.

Following the council's budget meeting earlier this month where an extra 5m. was committed to keeping Lancashire's roads in good repair, it brings the total investment for highway infrastructure in the coming year to around 48m. The work will be carried out over the next two years, with the county council contributing a further 800,000 towards the retaining wall repairs, totalling 3.96m.

The county council is one of 32 UK councils awarded a share of the 93.4m. Local Highways Maintenance Challenge Fund.

County Coun. Keith Iddon, cabinet member for highways and transport, said: "The task of maintaining our highways is about more than just repairing road surfaces, and includes ensuring vital structures such as retaining walls are in good condition. They are essential to keeping routes open, particularly in East Lancashire where the hilly geography means there are a huge number of walls and bridges supporting our roads. Repairs can be expensive as the work is complex, and the locations can be difficult to access, so I'm very pleased that our bid has been successful, allowing us to safeguard these important structures for many years to come."

Continued here:
Repairs to retaining wall on major Whalley road to go ahead - Clitheroe Advertiser

A driver of an SUV was seriously injured after he stopped in the middle of I-75 on Monday and set off a chain-reaction collision.

The white Jeep Cherokee came to a stop in the northbound lanes with hazard lights flashing just south of the I-285 interchange in Cobb County, authorities said in a news release. It was hit from behind by a silver Nissan Sentra about 11:30 p.m.

The crash forced the Nissan to the right, where it crashed into the retaining wall on the right shoulder before coming to a stop in the right emergency lane, Cobb County police spokesman Sgt. Wayne Delk said.

The impact pushed the Jeep forward in the third lane from the center, where it was hit again by a gray Ford F-150, according to traffic investigators.

The driver of the Nissan was not injured. The Fords driver was taken to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital with injuries that are not considered life-threatening, but the Jeeps driver was seriously injured, Delk said.

He was identified as 30-year-old Jordan Witherspoon of Derby, Kansas. He was also taken to Kennestone, and an update on his condition was not provided Wednesday.

The crash remains under investigation, Delk said. Anyone with information is asked to call770-499-3987.

Please return to AJC.com for updates.

In other news:

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Driver seriously injured after stopping on I-75 in Cobb - Atlanta Journal Constitution

From massive dredging and beach renourishment in Oak Bluffs and Edgartown to renovations at the Gay Head Cliffs overlook, a number of public works improvement projects are under way around the Island this winter.

North Bluff in Oak Bluffs has a brand new beach. Aaron Wilson

All are being paid for with a variety of public and private funds, including state grants, Community Preservation Act monies and private donations.

On the Beach Road running between Edgartown and Oak Bluffs, piping and heavy equipment associated with dredging have been in evidence for months, as a two-town project to suck sand from Sengekontacket and replenish eroded beachfronts takes place.

The major project includes work on both ends of the north-facing coastline.

In Edgartown, sand dredged from Sengekontacket using the town-owned dredge has been sold to Oak Bluffs for its beachfront needs; more sand will be used to stave off ongoing erosion at Fuller street beach.

Meanwhile, Oak Bluffs obtained funding last year for a wide-ranging beach restoration project from the Massachusetts Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program. The $2.7 million project, which includes a $689,000 contribution from the town, has included renourishing beach areas along Seaview avenue and the North Bluff, where a new seawall and boardwalk are already in place.

Final phases of the project will include the installation of new groins, and future phases will include refurbishment work on the Farm Pond culvert and jetties that line the entrance to the Oak Bluffs harbor.

Farther west, in Menemsha construction began early this month on a pedestrian path that will run along Basin Road, leading to beach. The path is aimed at better walking safety for pedestrians and beach-goers in summer, when the historic fishing village is jammed with tourists, residents and fishermen.

The idea was to improve safety around that corner. In the summertime its a choke point for pedestrians, and cars, and a lot of people felt it was dangerous, said town administrator Tim Carroll. We dont have sidewalks, so were just trying to make a little bit of room.

The new path will feature a crushed stone and shell walk in addition to a low stone retaining wall. The project is being paid for mostly by private donors, Mr. Carroll said. About $27,000 will come from taxpayers.

Funding was approved at a special town meeting in November 2018. Property owners who are abutters have donated easements, Mr. Carroll said. The work is being done by Merry and Sons Inc., and John Keene Excavation Inc.

[The path] is a small part of the discussion that has been going on for five-plus years, Mr. Carroll said. The so-called Menemsha corridor plan, commissioned by the town and the Marthas Vineyard Commission in 2017, outlined many renovations to make roads safer and ease the flow of traffic congestion to the village.

New sidewalk under construction on Basin Road in Menemsha. Albert O. Fischer 3rd

Other proposed improvements for Menemsha, including a VTA bus turnaround by the comfort station, parking lot changes and a boardwalk over the dunes, failed to pass muster with voters.

It was different for the small pedestrian walkway.

This is the one part of the project that has seen no opposition at all, Mr. Carroll said. Even the online chat groups are saying nice things, which in this day and age is rare.

The path runs across the road from the former Harbor Craft Shop, which will reopen this spring as the Ruel Gallery.

Next door, the Menemsha Bite has been vacant for almost two years. On the other side of the harbor, the Menemsha Market stands boarded up and vacant following a fire at this time last year. Chilmark building inspector Lenny Jason said the market will not reopen this summer.

Work has been under way in the harbor too, including maintenance dredging and the replacement of freshwater lines and new decking on the transient yacht dock.

Harbor master Ryan Rossi said the electrical issues that have plagued crab corner, a shallow wading area near the jetty, have been pinpointed. A light current that was turning up in the water was finally traced to a faulty ground.

The [warning] signs will stay up this summer, Mr. Rossi said, but he believes the problem has been solved.

This is all just . . . to make sure everything runs smooth during the summer, he said. Its all going very well.

In Aquinnah, a major upgrade near the scenic Gay Head Cliffs will include a new viewing platform and other improvements around the Circle and shops. The $220,000 project will be paid for by a combination of Community Preservation Act funds and money from private donors. Derrill Bazzy, chairman of the town community preservation committee, said the upgrade has been long overdue.

The area was so neglected, half of it was just asphalt and the rest was dirt, with poison ivy coming through the fences, Mr. Bazzy said. Once the decking goes in, we will be 90 per cent there.

He added: It will still feel like youre in the middle of an untouched part of the cliffs. It will continue to have a simple feel, but it will be a much better and safer place for visitors.

Future plans call for replanting the area with native species such as bayberry. New fencing will have less impact on the face of the cliff, Mr. Bazzy said.

The deadline is Memorial Day, and we seem to be on target, he said. I would consider it a hard deadline, thats when we start to get a lot of people coming up here.

Aaron Wilson contributed reporting.

Excerpt from:
Dredging and More: Public Works Projects Abound on Island - The Vineyard Gazette - Martha's Vineyard News

Latest news on the Belgrave Road landslip shared by Isle of Wight council press office, in their own words. Ed

The Isle of Wight have been continuing to undertake daily site inspections (twice daily during the two named storms) and monitoring of the wall movement and cracking both at the top of the terrace and the middle and lower sections.

Wire netting held wall collapse in placeThe heavy rainfall during the storms has resulted in the top section of the wall moving further downwards, with falling material coming to rest on the lower terrace.

However, the wire netting has worked effectively and contained the materials within the site.

No movement or deterioration was observed in the middle wall and no additional cracking or deterioration was observed in the lower wall above Esplanade Road.

No signs road is in any danger of collapsingThe current movement notwithstanding, we are keen to reassure residents that, contrary to some media reports, there are no signs that the road itself is substantially in any danger of collapsing.

While the wall continues to move, it remains unsafe and impractical for us to intervene until we can be certain the situation has stabilised further. However, we are continuing to look at what steps we might be able to take as soon as it becomes safe for us to do so.

Site being topographically monitoredA topographical survey of the site area was carried out last week which will assist us in this process.

This, together with the installation and initial survey of monitoring equipment, will enable us to undertake more detailed monitoring of the site and allow us to see when it has stabilised sufficiently for us to carry out a more thorough investigation on site.

Work cant pose risk to othersWe understand that residents will be keen for this situation to the rectified and the road reopened as soon as possible, but we must wait until we can be satisfied that any work on site will not pose a safety risk either to residents or to our workforce or affect the stability of the area.

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Belgrave Road landslip: Latest photos of retaining wall collapse - On The Wight

(WXYZ) There's new information tonight about that large piece of concrete that came crashing down from the retaining wall onto the Lodge freeway Friday night.

It happened in the southbound lanes near Outer Drive. The freeway is still closed Saturday night. Initially reported as a retaining wall collapse, on earlier Saturday MDOT described it as a solid concrete retaining wall cap.

Its about three feet tall and at least 200 feet in length that toppled from the top of the retaining wall and came crashing down onto the freeway Friday night narrowly missing oncoming traffic.

We started closing lanes on southbound M-10, but the freeway itself was not totally closed, says Diane Cross, a spokeswoman with MDOT.

That was at 8:15 p.m. 45 minutes before MDOT's planned freeway closure at 9 p.m.

On the service drive, we started working yesterday with whats called saw cutting, says Cross.

An investigation is looking into exactly what happened, but at the time of the saw cutting, around 8:15 p.m., for some reason the couple hundred foot long section of concrete toppled from the service drive to the freeway pavement bringing a worker to the ground with it.

That worker was taken to the hospital. His condition still unknown.

Making many wonder, could it happen again? Are these 60-year-old retaining walls safe to be driving by?

Because of the age of the walls, they are on an every 3 month inspection plus we have the inspectors out here now, says Cross.

The retaining wall is scheduled to be replaced in the spring. The work previously scheduled for this weekend was to reduce pressure on the retaining wall out of an abundance of caution.

The cap was always going to be removed, just not in this way. It was planned to be removed after the freeway shutdown. A nine-foot slope is being dug behind the retaining wall, also part of the initial plan but now also allowing for further inspection. Removing the dirt will remove pressure and allow crews to inspect the 35-foot steel rebars holding the wall up. Those rebars are anchored and encased in concrete.

Well be able to examine the other side of the walls as well and that will be part of the design done over the next couple months, says Cross. And then we will rebuild these walls in the spring.

The southbound lanes of M-10 are expected to reopen Monday. MDOT says the lanes will remain closed if inspectors feel there is a safety issue.

The service drive will be closed for the next few months.

Follow this link:
Safety of 60-year-old retaining walls questioned after cap collapse on SB Lodge - WXYZ