First metal rods drilled in landslip road repairs
BBCMetal rods have been drilled into bedrock as repairs to a road damaged in a landslip continue.
The A592 at High Kingate, north of Troutbeck in the Lake District, was closed in November after heavy rain washed away much of the earth in the area.
The work involves rebuilding and strengthening banking with steel reinforcement bars - known as soil nails - which were inserted into the slope on Wednesday, Westmorland and Furness Council said.
Andrew Laverick, who runs Catsycam the Outdoor Shop in Glenridding, said he and other businesses "really needed" the pass, which is a popular route for local traffic and tourists, "to be open by the middle of July".
The landslip happened at a section of slope halfway between Troutbeck and the Kirkstone Inn, just before the start of the Kirkstone Pass.
Laverick, who also serves as a parish councillor, said: "They're saying the middle of July for it to be open and initially I thought it was very optimistic."
He said the closure had "impacted some other businesses harder than us" in recent months.
"If it's not open by the time that school holidays start, then people won't be able to get here from the South Lakes and that will hit us really hard," he said.
The A592 is the main route to Patterdale from the Ambleside and Windermere areas.
While a diversion is in place via the A6, there is a road which links it known as The Struggle, which is a steep and difficult road to drive on.
Westmorland and Furness CouncilWestmorland and Furness Council's cabinet member for highways, Peter Thornton, said it was hoped the cost of the repairs would be under £500,000 but it would definitely be "hundreds of thousands".
He said the area had 2,600 miles (4,184km) of road - the equivalent of traveling from London to the North Pole.
"While we hope we won't get another of these, whenever you get a steep hillside with an embankment going across it - whether it's a canal, a railway or a road - there's always a chance of this type of thing happening," he said.
Laverick said he worried about "people towing caravans up it or driving large vehicles" in the summer, adding "if it that road gets blocked it's going to cause absolute, chaos".
The council said it aimed to get the repairs done before the school summer holidays and that a new retaining wall faced with natural slate would replace the highway verge and upper embankment, while the road surface and drainage would be renewed.
