A road in Oxford has split after prolonged periods of wet weather triggered subsidence beneath its surface. Cracks initially observed in December on Oxford Road, Kennington, developed into rifts up to 2ft wide under continued heavy rain.
Oxford Road was initially closed on the 20th of December after a routine council inspection raised fears of subsidence. Owen Morton, a spokesman for Oxfordshire County Council, said of the dramatic collapse which followed, “Further work will be needed to determine the exact causes, but initial indications are that this is primarily down to the foundations and slope of the embankment becoming saturated by the significant wet weather over this year.”
Details of the road’s repair are as of yet uncertain. Morton added, “We can’t say at this stage how long the road will need to remain closed or how much it will cost to fix, but it’s fair to say the scale of the repairs required will mean that the road will be closed for months rather than weeks.”
