Repairing the Chester Dry Dock – page 2

During the next few months CRT abandoned the site.

The collapsed middle section of the culvert had now become completely visible from the surface.

The cause of the culvert failure was obvious and visible to all by simply looking into the hole.

The many different types and functions of the culverts found on the canal system should be well known to CRT as they are responsible for their maintenance.

Repairing this culvert should have been straight forward, cost effective and quick. Instead the area around the hole was subjected to every conceivable method of investigation. At one point even a drone was used.

  • Visual inspection by ten managers, all gathered at the same time on site.
  • Inspection by boat, provided and crewed by Taylor’s Boatyard.
  • Dye testing.
  • Ground Penetrating Radar.
  • Cameras into culvert (despite all being clearly visible).
  • High Definition Video & 3D topographical laser subsurface scans.
  • Flying a drone.
  • Ground Penetrating Radar (again).

CRT was attempting to avoid criticism by trying to find an excuse for the culvert failure other than their own lack of maintenance. The extensive ground (and air) investigations commissioned by CRT were unnecessary to the culvert repair.

The Todbrook reservoir had just been pumped out for the second time and CRT’s lack of maintenance was making headlines around the world.

The boatyard was prevented from repairing the culvert. It had to suffer financial losses due to the deliberate procrastinations and political posturing of CRT.