COMMUNITY
Burning bridges
I
T HAS been 35 years on the Connel Bridge was averted by the local engi- neers of the time.
Engineer Mike Rayworth, who helped to co-ordinate efforts at the time, recalls what hap- got out of hand.
Towards the end of August 1977 Argyll Division Roads Department discovered that the embankment on the Con- nel – Glencoe Trunk Road A828 was burning internally near to the bridge.
The embankment, which is up to 30 – 40 feet high, forms the northern approach to Connel
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Bridge crossing Loch Etive and was some years ago part of the Connel to Ballachulish railway line but now carries the trunk road. - thing was wrong came in mid August when some trees on the embankment showed premature signs of shedding their leaves.
August was unusually stormy and during wet periods clouds of steam were seen rising from the embankment. Further in- vestigation revealed consider- able radiant heat through soil on the embankment. A small excavation would cre- rapidly became evident that
a serious situation had devel- oped.
Exploratory boreholes re- vealed that the heat had not reached any point vertically below the near edge of the carriageway but they did show the embankment was constructed wholly of loose ash and clinker, of which a large proportion was not completely burnt. Under the embankment was a layer of peat. It is remarkable that an em- bankment made of such loose material managed to withstand decades of rail and any undue signs of distress. Although the exploratory in-
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