Busway Works Continue
2 June 2010, 13:37 | Updated: 2 June 2010, 13:55
The company building the Cambridgeshire guided busway is now carrying out tests to see if the track will move during hot weather.
BAM Nuttall has now completed drilling some holes along sections of the busway, and taken soil samples from these holes.
This soil will now be tested to see how much it will shrink during a dry and hot summer.
The tests are being done so the contractor and Cambridgeshire County Council can be certain the foundations of the busway will not move over time.
The job is one of six tasks BAM Nuttall is to carry out before the County Council will accept the busway.
The other five jobs are:
- Fix rain water leaking through joints in a viaduct over the River Great Ouse.
- Stop rain water collecting on the surface of the St Ives park and ride car park.
- Stop water "ponding" on sections of the busway track.
- Make sure gaps between the guideway beams are spaced correctly to allow them to expand during a hot summer.
- Carry out a risk assessment and fire safety report to make sure shredded rubber tyres used in the track are safe.
Bob Menzies, Cambridgeshire County Council’s Head of Busway Delivery, said: "It is good to see the soil testing has moved on to the next step in the process.
These tests and calculations are important so we can sign off the track with absolute certainty that the foundations are suitable for the soil conditions.
As we have said for some time, until the calculations are completed we will not know if any work will be needed, but it would be wrong to accept The Busway without knowing the results."
When complete, the busway will link St Ives and Cambridge.
It was supposed to be open more than a year ago, and is expected to be around £40million over budget.
Cambridge MP, Julian Huppert, has called for a public inquiry into the problems that have faced the scheme.