Huge slip cuts road at Lyttelton

Press, 24 October 1978, Page 1

Huge slip cuts road at Lyttelton

Part of a 100-year-old retaining wall crashed down above the Sutton Quay entrance to the Fisherman’s Wharf at Lyttelton last evening, taking with it a big area of the main access road between the Lyttelton end of the Road Tunnel and Governor’s

Bay. On Sunday evening the Lyttelton police reported road subsidence on the eastern side of the roundabout through the tunnel portal. Big cracks had developed in the road and the retaining wall had bulged about 0.6 m after heavy rain. At 5.30 p.m. yesterday the lOin-high wail collapsed, spilling tons of earth, rock, and drainage pipes on to Sutton Quay, a main access road to the port.

“There was a loud roaring noise, then a rattling as stones bounced down the road," said Miss Gloria Mitchell, a Lyttelton resident, last evening. An 11,000-volt substation is reported to be in a precarious position on the other side of the eroded road below a crib wall, and there is concern about other properties higher on the hill.

One lane of the road from Governor’s Bay to the tunnel is still onen. Tunnel traffic to Governor’s Bay is being diverted down Sutton Quav behind Fishermen’s Wharf. The cost to restore the road was estimated at $500,000 by a consulting engineer called to the scene last evening. "Don’t quote this as a professional opinion because 1 am only giving you an estimate, but 1 am confident that the final outcome will prove that I have been conservative,” said the engineer.

The Mayor of Lyttelton (Mr M. E. Foster) was not available for comment but

the Deputy Mayor (Mr W. S. Tredennick) said that the wall was uwniu oy uie Lyttelton Harbour Board and that the Lyttelton Borough Council was responsible for part of the road.

Mr Tredennick confirmed that patches of seal over the eroded area covered cracks which occurred when the road apparently started to slip several months ago. "It is no use denying it — we (the Lyttelton Borough Council) had tests done a while ago because of our concern but 1 never heard the outcome,” he said.

Asked why the road was allowed to remain open after the earlier signs of erosion, Mr Tredennick said the council’s consulting engineers would probably have the answer.

The general manager of the Lyttelton Harbour Board (Mr J. A. McPhail) said the wall was within the hoard’s boundary, but the board had not built it. For the Harbour Board the collapse appears to have come two meetings too late. It is believed that an engineer’s report on concern about the condition of the wall was received in committee at a recent meeting. Mr Tredennick said that speaking as a citizen as well as a councillor, the earlier cracks should have been regarded as a warning of serious problems ahead.

“There is no telling what is going to happen right along that area if we get some more rain in the very- near future. I believe the cracks are opening up on that retaining wall," he said.

Other stormwater problems were looming along Norwich Quay where the road had been altered and stormwater egress cut off, said Mr Tredennick.