Motorway crack may be due to roadworks: minister

London Evening Standard/London

The closure of the cracked M4 elevated section causes traffic chaos

The M4 flyover in west London may have cracked as a result of repair work, a transport minister admitted yesterday.Engineers are fighting to mend the road — a key Olympic route into the capital — before the introduction of Games lanes on Monday.But yesterday, Tory minister Mike Penning said the chaos that has left west London gridlocked since Friday could be the result of roadworks.On a visit to the motorway — which is still shut for six miles between junctions two and three — junior transport minister Penning said: “The crack that caused the shut wasn’t there before… (it was a) brand new crack, possibly due to the work we were doing.”The Boston Manor viaduct was closed between junctions one and three, from Chiswick to Feltham, on Thursday night after the cracks in the steel supports were discovered. A “severe” alert for congestion remains in place. Penning said: “Last Thursday evening they found a crack (in one of the areas where they were already working) that wasn’t there the last time they looked. They checked it again and it was growing because the traffic was coming on top.” He refused to give any guarantees that the road would reopen tomorrow, as the Highways Agency predicted on Monday. He said: “That’s what we’d like to do, it’s highly possible.”The new crack was a two-and-a-half inch-deep gash in the welded supports, said Derek Turner, the agency’s director of delivery and development. He said: “The crack wasn’t there before and was growing, which caused a hiccup in the repair process.” The bridge is supported by 10 foot-wide concrete pillars and underpinned by a lattice of steel girders. Workmen are grinding down the cracks and filling them with reinforcement plates.