Repairs to Cambridgeshire accident blackspot can't come sooner for pub
But the George Inn in Ramsey Forty Foot may have to cope with fewer customers
A pub landlord believes repairs to an accident blackspot in Cambridgeshire that's seen several crashes in a day can't come soon enough.
The B1096 Forty Foot Bank connecting Chatteris to Ramsey has been the scene of several crashes in recent years, including four accidents in one day in November last year.
"It's been terrible for a while and it's most people's conversations a lot of the time," Brian Wadey, landlord at The George Inn in Ramsey Forty Foot, said.
"At the same time, it does need fixing; hopefully they (the county council) do a good job of it and we'll be able to talk about (the idea) that it stays good for quite a while."
Over the last few months, large cracks have started to appear along the route with some of the road surface subsiding.
Cambridgeshire County Council - which maintains local highways - will be shutting the Forty Foot Bank for at least six weeks from today for carriageway repairs.
A council spokesperson said it expects the road to reopen in late February.
But the spokesperson added a temporary traffic regulation order is in place until July "which allows for unforeseen delays, but the actual work and related closures will not be in place for all that time."
Test to 'make the pub viable'
Mr Wadey said customers would face a diversion and perhaps struggle to get to the pub because of the road closures.
"If they can't get to us, we won't be seeing them and we'd struggle to make the pub viable," he said.
"If the customers can't get here, we won't have anyone in but hopefully other customers that can get to us will come and visit."
The county council said the reconstruction of one kilometre of the Forty Foot Bank will cost more than £550,000.
Other resurfacing work including between The Fold and Minuet Gardens, Coates and a £1.1 million scheme to reconstruct 1.8km of Long Drove in Holme is also due to start this month.
In the last year, the council said 11km of peat soil affected roads - almost seven miles - were reconstructed or resurfaced at a cost of £5.5m.
Council 'working hard' on repairs
The council has allocated £56m in its last budget to repair and maintain Cambridgeshire's roads.
Roads built on wet and unstable peat soil using standard highway construction methods can deteriorate quickly, with sinking and cracking meaning more repairs are needed and more often.
"We’ve been working hard to rebuild, resurface and repair some of the most badly affected peat soil-based roads in the county," Councillor Alex Beckett, chair of Cambridgeshire County Council's highways and transport committee, said:
“Peat soil shifts and moves around with seasonal changes – much more than other land – so we face more expensive highway works cost and road maintenance bills compared to other places.
"This affects people using our roads across the county as it means there’s less money overall to invest across the network and keep our roads up to standard."
This summer, the authority will run a £1.5m trial alongside the University of Cambridge to find effective ways to repair roads affected by underlying soil conditions.
New government system launched
In the Government's new traffic light system - which judges how well local highways authorities are maintaining roads and how much money is spent on repairs - Cambridgeshire scored amber.
“We’ve put our money where our mouth is, increasing the funding for local highway authorities with £7.3 billion to fix roads and given them the long-term certainty they have been asking for," Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said.
"Now it’s over to them to spend the money wisely, and for the first time we are making sure the public can see how well councils are doing in delivering the improvements they want to see in their local area."
Mr Wadey knows the importance of the repair work needed on the Forty Foot Bank, and has come up with some ideas to keep business ticking over.
"I think the biggest thing is to advertise and make people aware of what's happening, when it's happening, and keep things happening all the time," he added.
"Give them a reason to come in, make sure it's warm and push food more through the weekends when it's busier."