Yesterday, Wednesday 16th May, Transport for Buckinghamshire
made emergency repairs to a large underground void at the junction of Dean
Street and Queen’s Road, Marlow. Reports were made of a small opening in the
road surface which, upon investigation, was revealed to be hiding a hole of
several cubic feet, exposing water pipes.
The road was excavated to expose the full extent of the
void, the hole was backfilled and the new road surface was laid.
County Councillor Mark Shaw, Cabinet Member for Transportation,
commented: “Well done to the TfB team who attended to this quickly – from the
outset it did not look like a big drama, with some sources christening it ‘the world’s smallest sinkhole’, but it was a bit more serious than that. When
sinkholes form it’s fairly common for only a small crevice to be visible from
ground level, but from the photos of Dean Street yesterday it is possible to
see that the road was subtly caving in for several feet around the small hole,
hinting at what was beneath – i.e. nothing! Sinkholes aren’t common – I think
the last one we saw was on Bourbon Street in Aylesbury last summer – but we
need to take them seriously as they could pose a danger to road users.”
Thanks to Twitter user Lizzie Owens, @mummyinmanolos, for sharing the images of the excavation.
