By Mal Butler
There are new fears that the Military Road’s precarious condition is worsening, and the road is crumbling closer to the cliff-top.
Photographs taken this week show the Island’s iconic stretch of road between Freshwater Bay and Chale continues to erode at an alarming rate.
At a public meeting last June, the IW Council promised that a ‘review will be carried out by the council on emergency management arrangements’ although nothing tangible has happened.
Martin Simpson, who has been hunting for fossils in the area for 43 years, said: “There are two areas near Afton which have further deteriorated. One part of the road is now just six feet from the edge, while a hole has appeared further down the road which has been filled with gravel. But gravel is used to accelerate drainage. It’s a cheap and cheerful way of fixing things.
“The problem is that there is a standoff between the IW Council and Island Roads, and it goes round and round in circles. At the point where the road is six feet from the edge, I would estimate if it crumbled at 9″ a year, it has a life of five years maximum. I reckon it will be a couple of years before that happens.”
Martin has liaised with Bruce Denness, who has been writing about climate change and coastal erosion for 40 years.
He said: “For the last two years, I have been doing groundwork for Bruce’s model. You can see there are great vertical fissures in the chalk, and these will dissolve the more rain we have. The sea below is sometimes a white chalky colour; this is from what has been washed away.
“In the mid-1980s the Afton Road section was piled with concrete and it was due to last 50 years, but there was no money put aside for the future.
“It’s time to talk to the National Trust and strip the land back and reroute the Military Road. We have to decide whether we want to keep it.
“Everyone knows the road is going to go; we just don’t know when.”
In a joint statement for the IW Council and Island Roads, a spokesman said the site was regularly monitored. He added: “In 2004, the council invested in a major stabilisation scheme, including deep piling, to protect the highway and enable it to withstand the current erosion. The stabilisation is in two sections totalling 285 metres [935ft].
“The gravel placed in the void at the western section is not to improve ground stability, but to provide a more level surface if a vehicle, cyclist, or pedestrian leaves the carriageway. Its reduced level is due to expected compaction and washout by rainfall.
“As the 2004 project stabilised the carriageway, the old warning system became effectively redundant as it was superseded by 44 new monitoring boreholes in the strengthened carriageway. Though not currently in use, the original infrastructure remains to provide future options.
“The council and Island Roads are designing vehicle restraint barriers on the eastern section of the stabilised highway to prevent vehicles leaving the highway. Installation is expected early next year.”
Isle of Wight Observer