Showing posts with label Salt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salt. Show all posts

25 April 2011

Is the Steep Sand Hill Stable?

I was walking by the Tesco site today ( what great weather we are having ), and noticed quite a lot of water bubbling up from the ground by the Tram stop. What really amazed me was the height of the sand mountain ( way over 2 metres ), and with a very steep slope to the top. Hard to judge, but it looked like at least 45 degrees. Now I am not an expert, but with Class 1B material ( the new quiet sand ), the maximum slope for highways use is about 30 degrees once compacted. Anything more is deemed unstable. Is it really safe to allow the tram to run past this mountain? If this amount of sand were to collapse onto the tram tracks while a tram were passing, that would have very serious consequences for tram and driver/passengers. Other than the water being pumped by the contractor and emptied into the drain, where is all of the other water going. What are the potential impacts on the stability of other buildings in the area. Near the tram stop it looked like it was saturating the surface soil. Surely this is contrary to the planning conditions for the site which required bunding to prevent runoff.