Council reopens Derbyshire’s A57 Snake Pass after work to tackle repeated landslips – repeating their call for more Government funding

Derbyshire County Council (DCC) have reopened the A57 Snake Pass today (Friday, October 25) – following a period of maintenance work.

A DCC spokesperson said: “Over the last couple of weeks, the road has been closed for works. These included resurfacing two parts of the Snake Pass where there are ongoing landslips, repairs to the road surface at various other places, drainage works, retaining wall repairs and more detailed investigations on the ongoing landslips.

“While we had the road closed, Severn Trent’s contractors took the opportunity to cut down some ash trees on their land next to the pass with ash dieback. Thanks to volunteer groups who’ve taken the opportunity to do litter-picks nearby too.

“We’ve also been able to carry out some work at the landslip at Doctors Gate to prevent water getting in over the upcoming winter (though some of the problems come from the underlying geology).

“The resurfacing work to the Gillott Hey landslip means that the traffic lights there have gone, and the resurfacing work to the area near Wood Cottage means that we have been able to lift the lower speed restriction there.

“There are still two sets of traffic lights at the big landslips (Alport & Doctors Gate), and the HGV weight restriction along the road remains.”

The council extended their gratitude to motorists for their patience during the works, and repeated their call for more Government funding to help rectify the issues along the route.

A spokesperson added: “Thanks for all your patience while the pass was closed and thank you to all our highways teams involved in the works. We’ve had lots of media interest in the road while it has been closed, which is helpful in raising awareness of our work to lobby Government for the millions of pounds it would take to properly fix the road.

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“There are some more closures coming up for more tree work by Severn Trent from December 2 – 14, between 8.00pm and 6.00am – these will be on the A57 end towards Sheffield.”