NETWORK Rail has said that the expected reopening of Botley Road, Oxford, to traffic from October will not happen due to some ‘unique challenges’ arising from the multi-millionpound station upgrade project.
With the bridge being raised as a project component, the road outside the station was due to reopen at the end of a planned six-month closure, but the discovery of an inverted brick arch, thought to be part of the original Victorian drainage system, is far larger than previously known and is believed it could even form part of the structural support of the railway bridge. The extent of the arch means that the programme of work had to be redesigned to ensure the bridge is stable and fully supported while the utilities under the road are diverted.
This involves driving 700 piles deep into the ground and the installation of a temporary drainage system to manage groundwater before a new permanent pumping system is installed later in the project.