The City of Hamilton closed the downbound lanes of the Claremont Access Wednesday night citing “urgent erosion” and “slope stability concerns” as the reason.
In a release, staff said escarpment access between Hunter Street and Upper James Street will be limited with work starting immediately “to proactively ensure continued safety.”
“Concerns about the stability of the escarpment in this area were raised through a routine inspection conducted earlier this week and have been identified as needing immediate attention in the interest of ensuring the ongoing safety of the Claremont Access walls,” a city spokesperson explained in an email.
Engineering services notified city staff of the issue in an update on Wednesday following an inspection turning up a change in a steel wall.
Stantec Consulting Limited, retained by the city for an inspection and upgrade, reported decay “indicative of a potential failure of certain sections” along the escarpment.
Engineering Services staff were notified on Tuesday and “increased monitoring” and “relieving the pressure on the steel wall” was recommended by Stantec’s report.
Director of Engineering Services for the city Jackie Kennedy says the a recent imitative would see the steel walls, around since the late 60’s, removed at some point.
There was a notable failure in 2012 when some rocks tumbled to the roadway below.
In 2017, some barrier removals were done for safety reasons.
“We’re working towards the next level of removal,” Kennedy told 900 CHML’s Hamilton Today.
“What you’ll see (removed) is most of the wall, from a little bit upwards where the bridge crosses over the Claremont up towards the top end of the road.”
In all some 600 meters of the steel walls are expected to be removed.
On Thursday, the city recommended a temporary alternative for drivers consisting of a turn onto Upper Wentworth from Fennel Avenue, down the Jolley Cut to Arkledun and then to John Street South.
HSR passengers can visit the HSR Now Twitter for their detour details.
Kennedy didn’t give a timeline for the lane closures, just that they will be inaccessible until further notice.
She says they are working with the city’s Transportation Operations in terms of how to best manage the traffic.
“So we are looking at options for traffic flow,” said Kennedy
“That means the detour that they’ve got in place now or perhaps converting the upwards lanes into a one up and one down lane if the closure is going to be going on for very long.”
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