A local resident has expressed concern at the rate at which the cliff face at Brook is falling away, with the edge now just feet away from Military Road – but what is being done about the situation?
Angie Davies has taken to social media to share drone photographs which show just how much the cliff has fallen away in recent times.
The comparison photo below shows to the left a Google Maps aerial shot and to the right a drone photo taken just last week. The deterioration of the cliff is clear for all to see.
The drone photographer has said:
“We are in danger of the famous Military Road being closed for good! All we need is a bad winter and this road could vanish just like other roads on the Island.
“This road is the lifeline to the Island, without it, it would kill tourism!
The area in question is to the west of Brook Chine Car Park, which was under 2-way temporary traffic lights for a period of around 4 years between 2010 and 2014.
Following a cliff fall in 2010, Military Road was restricted to single file traffic. Then, in 2011, a new surface water drainage system was installed which slowed the recession of the cliff. At the same time, an embankment was constructed on the former vehicle lay-by to prevent vehicles from parking too close to the edge.
In August 2020, some 10 years after that cliff fall, Island Roads revealed that they had submitted plans for an engineering scheme to prolong the life of Military Road. It would involve installing piles under the south side of the carriageway that would be buried so would not initially be seen from either ground level or from the beach/sea below.
It was hoped that the 2-month scheme would begin later that year, but 2 years on and nothing has been done to protect Military Road yet the erosion continues.
To save the Military Road make it 1 way in numerous sections
that are weak and corroded, and don’t run
Double Decker buses along this Road.
Sooner they chose it the sooner we can get some sleep and rest from the bikers tearing it up day and night!
Bikers are loonies, lack of brains is the answer.
The sea will claim the whole island one day what’s happened up to now been going on for decades / centuries a few piles won’t stop it
Need some large rocks on the beach to prevent the sea from eroding the toe of the cliff.
The Erosion is caused by slippage due to water coming from the land to the sea. How will rocks on the beach help???????
The whole rock is sinking, excuse the pun.
that will upset the boy racers
Simple the council compulsory purchase a swathe of land, get a digger in to carve out an inland section on the most narrow stretches, throw the spoil over the cliff.
Cheap, effective and easy.
So of course they won’t do it.
Will have to pay hundreds of k getting geeks to tell us what we all know the road is vulnerable, BUT their solution will be to close it, OR spend millions on some stupid over the top ‘solution’ so back handers are easier to come by.
Perhaps the weight of so much traffic does not help. After all it is a man made path through the land.
Good, it will stop the idiot boy racers and motorbikes riders using it as a racetrack.
Nothing will be done, because the council continually picks the pockets of island roads to fund their grandiose existence.
We the people do not matter.
Ryde interchange which few wanted we got, the military road is vital.
It wont get done.
If you look at a map, the Military Road curves out towards the sea at Brook Chine car park. Isn’t the obvious answer to purchase the land and straighten the road taking it away from the cliff?
I think we all have to understand – the landowner, too – that the erosion will continue and eventually the road as it stands, and the landowner’s land too, will be gone. If I was the owner I’d be selling the land now rather than watch it gradually disappear into the sea. Because it will disappear, no matter how much money we spend on drainage or embankments.
Why not just move the road further from the cliff edge?
Need weight restrictions of vehicles implemented along this road, if they don’t do that soon looks like a bus full of people are juggling with their lives travelling in a double decker.