Damaged drain on M1 not fixed after two months

7 hours ago

Tony FisherBedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire

News image — The traffic cones enabling the lane closures have been put to one side

Tony Fisher/BBC The M1 near junction 13 at Brogborough. There is a sign to Woburn Abbey on the left with grass verges and trees on either side of the carriageway. Traffic cones have been moved off the road and have been placed in a line by the central reservation. — The traffic cones enabling the lane closures have been put to one side

Work to fix a damaged drainage pipe on the M1 in Bedfordshire has still not been carried out eight weeks after the problem first occurred.

Lane closures were first put in place on 27 January between junction 12 at Toddington and junction 13 for Brogborough.

National Highways said it "had been in place to allow tankers to remove excess water from the motorway".

A spokesperson said they had been able to remove the lane closures early last week "due to the improving weather" but did not say when the "drainage defect" would be repaired.

Tony Fisher/BBC A motorway with the outside lane southbound closed with cones. There is a sign in the foreground which reads: "Works Access". Trees and grass verges are on either side of the carriageway. — National Highways has said the concrete barrier supports had been weakened by the drainage issue

Chris Ames, a former deputy editor of Highways magazine who now runs the Transport Insights blog, said it looked like National Highways was taking advantage of the drier period.

"[But] it seems unlikely that it would be able to carry out significant work to repair any damaged drainage without reinstating lane closures to create a sufficiently wide and safe working environment."

A National Highways spokesperson said: "We will continue to monitor the forecast in case the situation changes.

"We are continuing our work to repair the damaged drainage system."

Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.