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news
Devonshire Tunnel, Bath, closed due to flooding (road.cc)“If this was a road it would have been fixed months ago”: Cycling tunnel closed (again) due to flooding – as Sustrans says fixing drainage issue “could take some time”
Cyclists have criticised the apparent lack of attention afforded by local authorities to active travel infrastructure, after it was confirmed that a tunnel which forms part of the National Cycle Network and provides a key commuter route for local cyclists has closed once again due to flooding – just over a week after reopening briefly for the first time in three months – with Sustrans admitting that attempts to solve the drainage problem “could take some time”.
Opened in 2013, the Devonshire Tunnel is part of Bath’s Two Tunnels route, a shared-use path frequented by commuters and leisure cyclists seeking to avoid the city’s hills.
However, heavy rainfall in the area over the Christmas period, which overwhelmed a nearby damage drain currently awaiting repair, led to the tunnel being severely flooded and almost impassable by bike, with cyclists noting the presence of “large objects invisible below the water”.
After cyclists first lodged complaints about the flooding in late December, active travel charity Sustrans (which manages the greenway) and Bath and North East Somerset Council eventually moved to close the tunnel on 4 January, forcing cyclists using the greenway to take a diversion featuring the much less accessible footpath in Lyncombe Vale.
With Sustrans frequently monitoring water levels since its closure at the start of the year, the tunnel was eventually reopened at the end of March, though cyclists were advised to “take care” while riding on the path, due to water still being present at its entrance.
(Credit: Darren Stevens)
“The water level continues to be monitored and it may be necessary to close the tunnel again pending longer-term remedial works by Bath and North East Somerset Council,” Sustrans said at the time.
However, earlier this week, following an on-site inspection from Sustrans, the Devonshire Tunnel was once again closed due to the raised water level at its northern portal and the subsequent threat to cyclists’ safety.
A Sustrans spokesperson told road.cc: “The Devonshire Tunnel is currently closed due to flooding overwhelming a nearby damaged drain that’s awaiting repair. Sustrans is working closely with Bath and North East Somerset Council to evaluate potential drainage solutions which could take some time.”
“Going to be a big job and will need a few weeks of dry weather before it can even begin,” one Bath-based cyclist noted on social media after the decision to close the tunnel again was announced.
The tunnel’s lengthy closure – and the lack of certainty surrounding its reopening – has been criticised by local cyclists, who have pointed out the apparent disparity when it comes to local authorities addressing infrastructure issues for cyclists and motorists.
When visiting the site this morning, a regular tunnel user told road.cc, “if this was a road it would have been fixed months ago”.
Meanwhile, another cyclist, noting the falling water levels at the entrance, despite the tunnel’s continued closure, said that “you encounter bigger puddles than this on the lanes around Bath, and many of us who use this tunnel have to ride through them when it’s closed”.
The council’s belated response to the flooded route in January similarly provoked criticism from cyclists who use the tunnel, with many noting the local authority’s otherwise progressive approach to climate and active travel issues, including the implementation of an ultra-low emissions zone and emissions-based car parking fees.
“I can’t help but feel that the response would have been much swifter if it had been a road,” Andy Kelly said at the time.
“Crazy that active travel arteries aren’t treated with the importance they deserve. Can you imagine an A road going for days without any authority doing anything about a major flood?”
Bath and North East Somerset Council has been approached by road.cc for comment.
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
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20 comments
I completed an audax through these tunnels just on this weeekend I was amazed that there's not a single sign telling you BEFORE that the tunnel is closed and which route you should use to avoid it.
The shortest detour involves you in riding through quite sketchy road, and also is completely unsuitable for kids and families, unless you're on a electric MTB
Either local counsel just doesn't give a penny for maintaining their own ifrastructure and safety of people, or the problem is in the maintanence teams, who unable to provide basic guidance for walkers / cyclists
Agreed - have had a few times where I discovered too late I was going to be on a magical (often A-road) mystery tour!
But... the mainstream view seems to be cycle paths aren't really part of the "road network" never mind "strategic infra". And people only cycle "recreationally" so they'll just turn round and go a mile back to their car. And it's not many people...
So no need to put up a notice the route's closed. Never mind a suitable diversion.
To be fair it's not always done terribly well for motor traffic routes.
Being very well aquainted with that route, it's a real PIA that it's currently closed (it's advertised as a tourist attraction; loop involving the canal tow-path); did commute through there for a couple of years but haven't been up there recently as the weather has been so wet. Joining the route between the 2 tunnels (noting that the main tunnel through the hill (S of Bath) is still open) isn't that accessible (either over Lyncombe Hill (minging) or from the start of Prior Park hill). To get onto the route involves a gate and short stretch of path which is probably pretty muddy; I used to use that access quite a bit and wondered why a (cyclable) ramp hadn't been put in when the route was built (which would be really useful now!!). I recall (while back now I admit; pretty sure) that the locals opposed it based on people parking around there to cycle on the path; usual 'plausible' NIMBY b#llocks tbh as there isn't any parking around there (locals all have off-road parking and roads are narrow) and it's probably residents only anyway now. They could at least pump the water away (fire-service style mobile pump) as an interim measure, assuming drier weather is coming, until the drain was fixed. The council should 'step-up' as they've gone all-in on developing new cycle routes, LTNs, Clean Air Zone etc so the local motoring lobby are raging and probably looking for any reason to bash the council.
They were pumping for about a week in January. There's a much bigger flood under the tunnel
So, basically the story is local authority thought the project was too expensive, Sustrans took over a nd now appear to have underestimated the scale of the issues involved and somehow the closure of the tunnel is the council's problem? It looks like the council were correct in their initial assessment.
Too expensive for cyclists. If it was a road it would not be too expensive.
Realistically, it's going to take year to fix. Unless we have several weeks without rain...like that will happen
If you're unhappy about local authorities not repairing or replacing things, then stop voting Tory !!!
Its is liberal democrat/green council !
But where do they get their money from (or not)?
Most local authority funding comes from central government, not council tax
I've never voted Tory. Unfortunately there are too many selfish c**ts who do. Shropshire council has been run (down) by corrupt, incompetent Tories for decades.
You've got the double-whammy of underfunding from a Tory central government and a local government that wants to spend silly money on a by-pass etc at the expense of facilities more useful to more people.
The person quoted in the article may be right that an equivalent road would be fixed more quickly, but the introduction of the tunnel in the first place is the stuff cyclists in other areas dream of. I'm not saying they shouldn't complain or push for more and better infrastructure, but it's still important to be realistic about the technical challenges of collapsed drains and the costs of repair options.
I'd also like to draw attention to the frequent lengthy closures of the A83 at "Rest and Be Thankful" in the West of Scotland, routinely requiring a 59 mile diversion.
I mostly agree - but just on a specific point - AFAIK the council didn't actually build any tunnel for cycling (and walking):
https://www.bathnes.gov.uk/sites/default/files/sitedocuments/Streets-and...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devonshire_Tunnel
I do appreciate it will probably have cost the council money - indeed likely a substantial amount. EDIT - the council appear to have paid less than half of the whole project (not sure how much they ended up paying - a "mix of matching funding" is mentioned?):But less than I imagine they regularly find to fix a bit of parking / resurface roads and certainly much, much less than building a major new road (the equivalent).
Now if they had, that would really be "doing it properly" and "encouraging cycling" (like they do regularly for short distances in NL [1] [2]).
I actually "dream" about much more mundane - but important - infra...
because it's under 6 feet of snow in the winter like the Col de l'Iseran?
Regular landslides. There's a proposal to build an Alpine-style shelter over the road.
www.heraldscotland.com/news/24101745.a83-rest-thankful-action-third-high...
I'll believe it when I see it. Do you think it will happen before or after the dualling of the A9?
Id highlight the Street in Aldham near Hadleigh closed in October last year, following Storm Babet flooding damage, and wont reopen till August this year at the earliest, around 10months of closure. with the result being alot of the motor vehicular traffic that used it, now uses NCN 48 instead.
but it feels a waste of time.
Is that one to file under "cycle infra causes flooding"?
It's filed under "If this was a road it would have been fixed months ago"
They don't get fixed as quickly in lots of cases, so much so local newspaper did a whole feature on roads closed for repairs hitting 8months.
The impact on cycling is the diversionary routes/rat runs force more traffic onto roads cyclists do use.