Sometimes you get a little bit of a curveball with a project, and we got one fairly early on here on Saxton Stage 4.

In order to do our sheet piling (driving large steel columns into the ground to enable us to dig the hole for the culvert to go into), we had to push the traffic over to into the area normally reserved for the cycle lane. Cyclists were detoured through Saxton Field.

With the traffic driving over this area, we quickly identified some potholes forming, which turned out to be a problem with the old culvert. Thankfully we had the team onsite, and they were able to quickly fix the issue (thanks to a clever bit of engineering and a large bridge beam!)

It was lucky to have such an experienced team on-site, as when could have been a major problem was quickly resolved.

In other works, the first section of the box culvert has been poured offsite - and is now ready to be installed. The sheet piling is almost complete, and digging to make way for the culvert is underway. The process to get the culvert installed is a tricky one, as they need to make sure that the area is kept clear of water. We'll post further progress photos as the project continues.

Work in this area is scheduled to continue through to early 2022 before moving onto the next stage adjacent to Main Road Stoke.