(no subject)

[lethargic_man]

There is currently a big hole in the road here (no, you can't see it in the photo). Starting from about a foot under the road surface, there is a huge circular shaft descending, lined with white tiles—about ten feet across. I don't know how deep it is, but one time when I cycled past it on the way home, I could see the top several feet of a ladder resting against the shaft wall.

I wonder what it's for—but I also wonder, given that it appears to be a permanent fixture of the road, how they normally cap it such that it can stand the weight not just of cars passing over, but of the occasional juggernaut or removals van.

Comments

well...

[bluepork.livejournal.com]

Its probably an access point for the London ring main water supply. I remember seeing this on Tomorrow's World when they first opened it!

Re: well...

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I had no idea any such thing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Water_Ring_Main) existed.

But no, that's not it: it's not in the right place (http://www.thameswater.co.uk/en_gb/Downloads/PDFs/news_ring_main_extension_3D_map.pdf).

Re: well...

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

A little while ago there were men working there, and I stopped to ask. Turns out it's going to be connected to the storm drain system, so the road doesn't flood when it gets wet. Why it needs to be so big, though, I don't know.

(And it's not tiles lining it, on closer inspection: it's breezeblock.)