Cumberland Road reopened today after completion of stabilisation works
Today, 4 September, Cumberland Road will be reopening to the public.
Extensive efforts have been made to stabilize the river retaining wall after an 80-meter section collapsed in 2020. The project involved the installation of piling to secure the ground, reconstruction of the retaining wall, and restoration of both the Chocolate Path and a portion of the Harbour Railway.
While there are still some remaining repairs needed for the Chocolate Path, it will be accessible again from Friday, 8 September. The exact reopening schedule will be confirmed next week. This slight change in date is due to various factors, including a shortage of staff to complete specialized fencing work and unforeseen delays caused by recent inclement weather impacting railing painting.
Ian Davies, Contracts Manager at Griffiths, explained: “The reasoning behind the slip is a combination of our own short term resource availability and our fencing sub-contractors along with the weather of late as they have not been able to carry out the actual painting of the fencing.”
Councillor Don Alexander, Cabinet Member for Transport, added: “It’s great news that work to stabilise Cumberland Road will enable it to reopen on Monday. This has been a major engineering project that has presented us with a number of challenges along the way.
“I know many people are looking forward to using the Chocolate Path again and will be able to do so again on 8 September, when we will also be reopening Gaol Ferry Bridge at 5pm.
“It will be fantastic to have both these popular routes in use again and to see people walking and cycling over them once more. It shows our continued investment in our harbourside infrastructure and our determination to get complex projects done.”
When Cumberland Road reopens on 4 September, a new bus gate (traffic filter) will mean that only buses, taxis, cycles, e-scooters and emergency vehicles can travel into the city centre on Cumberland Road. There are some minor kerbing works remaining around the bus gate but it will be operational from 4 September.
The bus gate has been installed to the east of Gas Ferry Road, so cars can travel eastbound on Cumberland Road up to this point, which also means that the SS Great Britain can still be accessed from both directions.
Any unauthorised vehicle travels that through the bus gate will receive a penalty charge notice. All vehicles will still be able to drive westbound along Cumberland Road.
