Post Bag 26th March 2014 got me thinking.....She had recently returned from the beautiful island of Madeira where Watch Bustard and myself have been known to roam. She was rightly amazed at the road structure and the fact that mountains all over the island, didn't get in the way of progress and that there are good roads and tunnels everywhere - all paid for by the E U in Brussels! Her comment was: "why can't we get EU money to pay for a new road around Stonehenge, as it is such a big tourist attraction". Simplistic thinking me thinks....but never the less, thought provoking when you consider that the EU in Brussels have issued no less than 3589 additional directives since David Cameron became PM and it would take 92 working days to sift through and to find where we can have some dosh to pay for a new road/tunnel.
Today, a 120 mile road and tunnel network links Madeira's previously isolated mountain communities, cutting journeys around its steep volcanic contours from four hours to just one, says Colin Freeman in an interview with Gil Cana, a Councillor in Madeira's New Democracy party, to the Telegraph. However, despite over generous grants from Brussels, the Portuguese owned island is swimming in debt. Read more: here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/portugal/9191749/Billions-of-euros-of-EU-money-yet-Madeira-has-built-up-massive-debts.html The geology of this is interesting in that Madeira, is volcanic rock which is soft, light and porous called pumice and lends itself well to drilling. The geology around Stonehenge however, is soft white porous, sedimentary rock a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and does not lend itself to the wet....but apparently they've got that sussed now - a sponge the size of Hampshire might help!!? The chemical form of calcite....Ca C03 could that be an alliteration!? If tunnelling gets the go-ahead, following feasibility studies, we are reliably informed by John Glen MP johnglenmp.com during the 90 minute debate in Westminster Hall on 4th March that "the difference now, compared with previous attempts to deal with the problem, is that Britain's engineering expertise has developed and we now have an international reputation for excellence in large-scale infrastructure projects involving tunnelling" This expertise has been accumulated from the building of the Hindhead Tunnel and the Thames Valley Tideway tunnel......Thank heavens they did all the rehearsals out of our area!!!
This does bring me to costs and we have to compare a tunnel under Stonehenge....allowing English Heritage their wish that the WHS should not be seen for free and the more recent Hindhead construction.I have to call upon Watch Bustard to do the calcs because when it comes to millions, he's better than I !
He says....if the Hindhead Tunnel opened in 2011 with 1.8km at a cost of £300million, a 2.8km tunnel at Stonehenge, allowing for inflation at 3% per annum, would probably cost £510million...now that figure sounds familiar? (could it be the very same figure rejected as unaffordable in 2007??) Also if it started where the existing dual carriageway finishes, it would only get as far as 200 meters past Long Barrow.....sorry Winterbourne Stoke, I do hope you get that by-pass!
Please help us improve the A303 around Stonehenge by what ever means by signing our petition at: www.sh2.co.uk but remember to confirm using the follow up e-mail or your vote won't be counted!
No comments:
Post a Comment