The lack of activity on the ground does give the impression that everything's at a halt. Behind the scenes though, there's the nitty gritty work on the planning of the exact form of the route - the project plan isn't slipping all round the calendar, physical work is currently booked to
restart in the autumn.
Meanwhile, up at 'The fence' at Devonshire Tunnel, we're looking out signage to inform visitors to the site about the project and its goals. It's quite usual for projects to use any hoardings to proudly announce the constructing partners, contractors and an outline project plan, but people probably thought that no one would visit Linear Park to see what's going on. Not so, as 'The fence' has had visitors from far and wide, as well as from Bath residents.
Bath's
Holborne Museum's Extension project (their site's pictured to the right, planted firmly at the end of Great Pulteney Street and 'A bit high viz') even pins the projected completion date on its fence.
We're pretty proud of the Two Tunnels project, so we'll see what we can bring about at the Devonshire Tunnel work site. It may be less prominently sited than the Holborne but it still has its visitors, and the fence will be in place for this year and most of next.
Which brings us to the other problem - the fence blocked any hope of a view of the works.
It's not unusual ... for a construction site to have viewports in its perimeter fence.
Thanks to Nigel Bryant and a Sunday morning, visitors can now view the site through no less than three holes, and this being the Two Tunnels project, we think of them as three new supporters who each have a name.
- Arthur Ole
- The first attempt. Something went terribly wrong and the air turned blue. The hole's image has been tinted blue in honour of the work that went into this first attempt and the language it provoked.
- Ann Ole
- The first successful hole, this one's for tall people, Ann Ole is well off the ground.
- Anna Ver Ole
- Thinking that small people would also like to see the works, Nigel cut a third hole at a suitable height ...
Of course we'd never suggest that these are used in the same way as the once common fairground sideshow, with willing volunteers pelted with wet sponges from the other side as a fundraiser ...
... that's because we'd be those volunteers ...
The final photos show the fence with the viewports, and the newly greened-over approach cutting. Behind it, the topsoil that dressed the cutting's sides has greened over well. You might notice that the tunnel portal's excavation stopped slightly short of its full depth. This is because it was found to be about a metre more deeply buried than initial estimates.
To deepen the excavation would have either implied steeper cutting sides - and they were quite old fashioned enough already - or far more excavation and hence spoil to remove, so it was decided to stop slightly short of the 'Trackbed depth' - at a point at which the tunnel portal will still provide more than adequate headroom.
There's something else. In this photo, can you find the moon?
