Flood misery continues despite drainage work on A27 (From The Argus)

It is worthwhile viewing the A27 flooding near the Lancing Leisure Centre in relation to the land raising which has been going on in recent years on the low lying land to the east of Mash Barn Lane. Can we be assured that this is not having any impact and is not counteracting any road drainage improvements? This must have previously provided valuable storage space for flood water.

I hope those living in nearby Manor Close are not suffering like they did in 2000/01

So the every day worker using this stretch of road (like myself) and paying for this inadequate flood defence system is to no avail as long as we don't get heavy rainfall!

What will the excuses be when it happens again - and it will.

UNBELIEVABLE.

Pipe the water into the River Adur instead.

They spent the money and like anything now days they will want even more cash for an upgrade.

Those people complaining should consider that it would have been a lot worse without this work. Also, as the report says the work is not finished.

What we have to bear in mind in all of this disruption is its a "trunk rd " OUR only one in this part of the world,we need a "bypass" I find this situation amazing, i totally agree with PHEWAR, pump the flood water thats coming down off the hill, into the river adur, as a job,and leave it permantly installed for these one in 5 year occaisions.We have had 10 weeks of total disruption only to find that not only is the road still flooding, but its now going to carry on from jan 7th for another 8 weeks , one of the things ive noticed while queing thro highway works the lack of manpwer actually doing anything ,thats a big point, job was totally under resourced,how can ajob like this that should have been properly planned end up as a total **** up..and when its all done all those lovely holed kerb stone will fill up with detrius and "adur district council still wont sweep the a27 so it will all be back to square one..ha bloody ha.

Having trees on level ground with feet of the roadside is a good indication if the cluelessness of those involved.....remove trees, remove some soil....water doesn't run uphill can someone tell the 'Engineers'

ShorehamBeachcomber wrote:
Having trees on level ground with feet of the roadside is a good indication if the cluelessness of those involved.....remove trees, remove some soil....water doesn't run uphill can someone tell the 'Engineers'

the trees will be helping to clear the water by taking it up through the roots, hence if the vegatation is cleared it would be much worse than it currently is.

Morpheus wrote:
Those people complaining should consider that it would have been a lot worse without this work. Also, as the report says the work is not finished.

The new drainage is complete on that stretch of the road.

Give me YOUR money and I'll be happy to tear it up and throw it away!

You don't spend millions to get it half right.

den2il wrote:

Morpheus wrote: Those people complaining should consider that it would have been a lot worse without this work. Also, as the report says the work is not finished.

The new drainage is complete on that stretch of the road. Give me YOUR money and I'll be happy to tear it up and throw it away! You don't spend millions to get it half right.

short of creating a huge drainage system there costing many millions there's not much that can be done.

- it's very low lying
- the water table is very high (it was flood land from the river before the embannkments were built)
- there isn't any gradient which could be used to direct the floodwater away down

So I'm not sure what miracles you expected to see

graham w wrote:
What we have to bear in mind in all of this disruption is its a "trunk rd " OUR only one in this part of the world,we need a "bypass" I find this situation amazing, i totally agree with PHEWAR, pump the flood water thats coming down off the hill, into the river adur, as a job,and leave it permantly installed for these one in 5 year occaisions.We have had 10 weeks of total disruption only to find that not only is the road still flooding, but its now going to carry on from jan 7th for another 8 weeks , one of the things ive noticed while queing thro highway works the lack of manpwer actually doing anything ,thats a big point, job was totally under resourced,how can ajob like this that should have been properly planned end up as a total **** up..and when its all done all those lovely holed kerb stone will fill up with detrius and "adur district council still wont sweep the a27 so it will all be back to square one..ha bloody ha.

bypass...where would that go then eh?
What a ridiculous statement to make.

phewar wrote:
Pipe the water into the River Adur instead.

...and just how expensive would that be eh?
The entire road would have to be dug up to put a huge drainage capability under it, before relaying it, so the pumps would be effective.

That would be ...hmmmm...probably £10-20 million?

graham_Seagull wrote:

den2il wrote:

Morpheus wrote: Those people complaining should consider that it would have been a lot worse without this work. Also, as the report says the work is not finished.

The new drainage is complete on that stretch of the road. Give me YOUR money and I'll be happy to tear it up and throw it away! You don't spend millions to get it half right.

short of creating a huge drainage system there costing many millions there's not much that can be done.

- it's very low lying
- the water table is very high (it was flood land from the river before the embannkments were built)
- there isn't any gradient which could be used to direct the floodwater away down

So I'm not sure what miracles you expected to see

So why did they go ahead with the project?

I think the real test is whether it still floods all the time like it previously did. Every time it rained heavily, even for just a few hours, it would flood, where as there has been a ridiculous amount of rainfall recently so it's not a huge surprise to see it flooding again.

Its the wrong sort of rain.Maybe the Highways Agency should consult Network Rail.

den2il wrote:

graham_Seagull wrote:

den2il wrote:

Morpheus wrote: Those people complaining should consider that it would have been a lot worse without this work. Also, as the report says the work is not finished.

The new drainage is complete on that stretch of the road. Give me YOUR money and I'll be happy to tear it up and throw it away! You don't spend millions to get it half right.

short of creating a huge drainage system there costing many millions there's not much that can be done. - it's very low lying - the water table is very high (it was flood land from the river before the embannkments were built) - there isn't any gradient which could be used to direct the floodwater away down So I'm not sure what miracles you expected to see

So why did they go ahead with the project?

I suspect that previously it was flooding say, once every 2 years, and the new work may change that to perhaps once every 5 years.

Short of putting the road on stilts, not much else can be done on a flood plain

One we dote normally have this amount of rain but seeing’s its set to get worst over the years to come the government better start finding new ways of drainage because it wont just be one lain flooded but there again if you build roads and housing on flood plains what ells do you expect to happen

Wast of money you got the river just few hundred meters away should just put a big drainage ditch in to it passing under the road to the collage.

well mr graham seagull..dont you spout some rubbish and as your name suggests full of -hit..you obviously havnt lived around here very long or you would know where the roads going to go, "when it finally gets built"..happy new year to you...

I bet the drainage ditches are all blocked with vegetation and dumped fridges etc..

Get whoever owns the land to clear and maintain the ditches and a lot of flooding would not happen

graham w wrote:
well mr graham seagull..dont you spout some rubbish and as your name suggests full of -hit..you obviously havnt lived around here very long or you would know where the roads going to go, "when it finally gets built"..happy new year to you...

oooh hark at thee, full of Xmas spirit I see.
What bypass that way - you mean around the back of Lancing through.....oh yes National Trust territory!! And you think that you're going to get a bypass through there do you? Good luck with that one. Let me know how it goes.

angrymonkey wrote:
Wast of money you got the river just few hundred meters away should just put a big drainage ditch in to it passing under the road to the collage.

water doesnt really go anywhere on a flat flood plains, it meanders. Without a gradient it can't flow to the river.

Perhaps if they planted a lot more trees andbushes along side of the road it would help as they would suck more water out of the ground enabling more water to soak in rather than run onto the road.
Another stupid thing is these people who pave over their gardens because they don't want to cut the grass. Then they complain when their houses flood.

I know b*gger-all about civil engineering, although I sometimes watch Channel 5 documentaries about massive bridges and stuff like that. Is this the right place to pontificate on how the contractors screwed this project up, and how to rectify it?

If the traffic wasn't so frustrating it'd be easy to laugh about this and all the talk of expensive pumps etc. Water flows downhill all by itself and here we are with a road that sits x amount of feet high above a bloody great river and no idea how to get rid of surplus rainwater. Those poor riverbank folk down in the west country must think our county's highways are run by complete plonkers...

graham_Seagull wrote:

den2il wrote:

Morpheus wrote: Those people complaining should consider that it would have been a lot worse without this work. Also, as the report says the work is not finished.

The new drainage is complete on that stretch of the road. Give me YOUR money and I'll be happy to tear it up and throw it away! You don't spend millions to get it half right.

short of creating a huge drainage system there costing many millions there's not much that can be done. - it's very low lying - the water table is very high (it was flood land from the river before the embannkments were built) - there isn't any gradient which could be used to direct the floodwater away down So I'm not sure what miracles you expected to see

We expect the works to 'Get it Right', first time. I am dumbfounded that the public are expected to put up with shoddy workmanship.

So the Main Coast Road (A27)is liable to be flooded and there is nothing that can be done. Total rubbish, you can always find a solution. Why not raise the road.
This is just another short term non-solution, just like the Chichester By-Pass, always flooding at the first rain drop. So not only do we have the worst road system in England, we also have the most badly built. The Second Class citizens of Sussex screwed again.

Roundbill wrote:
I know b*gger-all about civil engineering, although I sometimes watch Channel 5 documentaries about massive bridges and stuff like that. Is this the right place to pontificate on how the contractors screwed this project up, and how to rectify it?

Absolutely !

nocando wrote:
If the traffic wasn't so frustrating it'd be easy to laugh about this and all the talk of expensive pumps etc. Water flows downhill all by itself and here we are with a road that sits x amount of feet high above a bloody great river and no idea how to get rid of surplus rainwater. Those poor riverbank folk down in the west country must think our county's highways are run by complete plonkers...

You are right !

So many thousands of people from all over Sussex are delayed and inconvenienced by traffic delays, floods and congestion and the Local Authorities say nothing can be done.

What we need is a total revamp of the A27 from Chichester to Dover. Perhaps a Motorway. Write to your MP. Its important we dont get treated like second class citizens just because we live South of Gatwick.

Nosfaratu wrote:

graham_Seagull wrote:

den2il wrote:

Morpheus wrote: Those people complaining should consider that it would have been a lot worse without this work. Also, as the report says the work is not finished.

The new drainage is complete on that stretch of the road. Give me YOUR money and I'll be happy to tear it up and throw it away! You don't spend millions to get it half right.

short of creating a huge drainage system there costing many millions there's not much that can be done. - it's very low lying - the water table is very high (it was flood land from the river before the embannkments were built) - there isn't any gradient which could be used to direct the floodwater away down So I'm not sure what miracles you expected to see

We expect the works to 'Get it Right', first time. I am dumbfounded that the public are expected to put up with shoddy workmanship. So the Main Coast Road (A27)is liable to be flooded and there is nothing that can be done. Total rubbish, you can always find a solution. Why not raise the road. This is just another short term non-solution, just like the Chichester By-Pass, always flooding at the first rain drop. So not only do we have the worst road system in England, we also have the most badly built. The Second Class citizens of Sussex screwed again.

There's no money- it's being done on a shoestring

Can this be wrote:
It is worthwhile viewing the A27 flooding near the Lancing Leisure Centre in relation to the land raising which has been going on in recent years on the low lying land to the east of Mash Barn Lane. Can we be assured that this is not having any impact and is not counteracting any road drainage improvements? This must have previously provided valuable storage space for flood water.

I hope those living in nearby Manor Close are not suffering like they did in 2000/01

I live in Manor Close - what happened in 2000/2001... doesn't seem to have affected us much this time?