Engineers investigate Chorley to Adlington hole in road

11:17am Wednesday 14th May 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

Highways engineers are still trying to find out what caused a major road between Chorley and Adlington to collapse on Monday afternoon.

Chorley Road collapsed at 3.45pm on Monday, leaving a crater around 6ft wide and almost 2ft deep.

Some motorists reported driving into the hole, just past Fredricks ice cream parlour and Skew Bridge, although no vehicles became stuck in the cavity.

Witness Brian O'Dwyer, of Town and Country Kitchens at Charnock Richard, called the Citizen just minutes after the road sank.

He said: "As I drove towards it, it gave me a big fright, and I went straight into it. If a motorbike had been travelling on the road at 30 or 40mph he would have been killed."

Another motorist, Damien Owen, alerted motorists and flagged down a passing fire engine from Horwich.

He said: "I went through it and clipped all the bottom of my van. I realised that it was dangerous so I got out and just stopped the traffic and spotted a fire engine so I flagged them down and got the firefighters to secure the area."

One Adlington resident said that the collapse had been expected for some time. The man, who did not want to be named, said: "This has been an accident waiting to happen.

"On the other side of the carriageway you can clearly see where it has been patched up twice in the same spot.

"I am disappointed in Lancashire County Council's highways department because they have not responded quick enough.

"We pay our taxes but it looks like they've just patched it up. It's a real danger to motorists. Maybe this time, something can be done properly."

A spokesman for county council, which maintains the county's roads, said: "We are currently carrying out investigations into what caused the road to collapse. Sometimes this kind of collapse can be caused by a leaking culvert or water pipe which washes away the material under the road surface, which is then unable to support the weight of the traffic."

The road is expected to stay closed in both directions between the A6 and Rawlinson Lane for at least the next couple of days.