Work has started this week to repair a section of the A41 that collapsed leaving a large hole in the road.

A cavity more than 2m deep was discovered when a hole opened up in the surface of the A41 Whitchurch Road at Christleton back in July.

The long-running saga has caused frustration for motorists because of a temporary one-way stretch in place while the complex repair job takes place.

Repair work has started on the hole in A41 in Christleton

Dye tests proved the void had been caused by water leaking into a brick sewer chamber, maintained by Welsh Water, from the nearby canal.

Last week the complicated leak was fixed by the Canal and River Trust.

This means the council highways team has now been able to start to repair the hole itself.

The works will be complex as there are lots of services under the surface including water, gas, electricity power and telecommunication cables.

Pedestrian crossing traffic signals will also be temporarily removed to give a clear working space but will be replaced as soon as the work is complete. However, it is hoped no road closures will be needed.

Equipment to support the hole is now on site and once the hole is propped, work can begin to fill the void.

Cllr Karen Shore
Cllr Karen Shore

Councillor Karen Shore, cabinet member for environment, said: “Now the flow of water has stopped we are able to start filling in the hole itself.

“It is necessary to temporarily remove the pedestrian crossing at the site for safety reasons because to carry out the repairs a lot of equipment and materials will be lifted in and out of the hole.

“All the organisations involved continue to work hard together to get things back to normal as soon as possible. Certain layers of material will need to be left to ‘set’ before any further work can be done, so don’t be alarmed if at times it looks like work has stopped.

“Once the initial preparatory work is complete early next week, we will be able to provide more information about how long the repairs will take.”

Information on the repairs to the road will be available by visiting the council website .