Just a Quick heads up to those travelling over the Bank holiday weekend...

M1 Closed as of Sat 23rd August

Demolition of Tinsley Cooling Towers - drivers advised to plan their journeys for M1 motorway closure in South Yorkshire

http://www.highways.gov.uk/news/pres...leaseid=164764

The motorway will be closed from around midnight on Saturday 23 / Sunday 24 August between junctions 32 and 35, to allow the redundant towers to be brought down safely in a controlled explosion. It is expected that the motorway will remain closed for most of Bank Holiday Sunday.

The A631 Tinsley Viaduct lower deck between, and including, the Tinsley and Meadowhall roundabouts will also be closed, as will a number of local roads in the area.

During the closure, clearly-signed diversion routes will be in place for motorway traffic:
* Long-distance northbound traffic will leave the M1 at Junction 32, join the M18 northbound and the M62 westbound, and rejoin the M1 at Junction 42, or access the local road network from the M18.
* Long-distance southbound traffic will leave the M1 at Junction 42, join the M62 eastbound and the M18 southbound, and rejoin the M1 at Junction 32, or access the local road network from the M18.
* Northbound local traffic will be able to access Junction 33 of the M1 by following a signed diversion route from the M1 at Junction 32 via the M18 Junction 1, and then via the A630 West Bawtry Road and the A629 New Wortley Road, to join the M1 northbound at Junction 35.
* Southbound local traffic should follow the signed diversion route from the M1 Junction 35 via the A629 Upper Wortley Road, the A630 Centenary Way, West Bawtry Road and the A630 Rotherway, to join the M1 at Junction 33.
* Stretches of the M1 immediately to the north and south of Tinsley Viaduct will reopen as soon as possible after demolition, once checks on the structure have been carried out. This will enable local traffic to be diverted between the Tinsley Viaduct northern and southern roundabouts at Junction 34 via diversion routes on the A6109 Meadowhall Road, Meadowhall Way and the A6178 Sheffield Road on the Sheffield (west) side of the viaduct. To the east of the viaduct, (Rotherham side) traffic will be diverted via the A6109 Meadowbank Road, A629 New Wortley Road, A630 Centenary Way and A6178 Sheffield Road.

thay cant pull them down, they should be listed, how we going to know when we up north if they pull all these Cooling Towers down, will have to stop off a a chippy and see if we get wet or dry chips

Isn't it a bit stupid to do this over a bank holiday weekend?

Kier said:

Isn't it a bit stupid to do this over a bank holiday weekend?

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no it cost country less in lost business as a lot of people are off work, they dont give a stuff about people just off for a day out

Kier said:

Isn't it a bit stupid to do this over a bank holiday weekend?

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When do you propose they do it? In the middle of the week when people need it?

Dave you'll just have to look left to see Meadowhall instead

Whats the big appeal for 2 ugly lumps of dangerous, costly and redundant concrete They would have come down about 30 years ago when the other 5 Blackburn meadows cooling towers did except no-one knew how to do it without taking out the M1 at the same time. Things move on, the UK is desperate for additional generating capacity and the operators need to invest in new high efficiency clean burning stations, not tie up their land and waste their profits maintaining useless and worthless structures.

A case to point Calder Hall, the UKs first comercial nuclear powered station closed a few years ago and is being ripped to sh** right now and that place has far more "History" than the Tinsley towers do.

There are big plans for that site in Sheff`... http://www.eon-uk.com/generation/1490.aspx

Because it's nice to have a reminder of the city's heritage. OK it's not the prettiest thing in history but in 1000 years time it would probably be very much appreciated!

Still got all the god awfull steel works, and park hill flats which are bloody ugly lol. They will never go because there grade 2 listed all because Le Corbusier's "streets in the sky" idea and these are like one of only a few to actually do it.

Helz said:

Because it's nice to have a reminder of the city's heritage. OK it's not the prettiest thing in history but in 1000 years time it would probably be very much appreciated!

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As nice as heritage is they simply wouldn't last that long Reinforced concrete has a limited life once as the steel rusts away it it initially expands cracking the concrete letting in more water and they eventually fall down...

there was a program on TV about it not so long back a kind of timelapse into what would happen to the world should mankind be wiped out....

punto_matt said:

When do you propose they do it? In the middle of the week when people need it?

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Any other weekend when its not bank holiday?

Andy Monty said:

As nice as heritage is they simply wouldn't last that long Reinforced concrete has a limited life once as the steel rusts away it it initially expands cracking the concrete letting in more water and they eventually fall down...

there was a program on TV about it not so long back a kind of timelapse into what would happen to the world should mankind be wiped out....

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I watched it too (and it was quite scary how little would be left).......but we're still here

The same people campaining to keep them are the same people complaining about their energy bills and council tax.......or do you think they cost nothing to maintain and insure and that the land they stand on is worthless?

I'm not complaining about my energy bill or my council tax bill. And dozens of castles/ historical monuments are in prime city centre locations - are you saying we should remove them all to make way for progress?

Kier said:

Any other weekend when its not bank holiday?

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But then that is only a 2 day weekend, a 3 day weekend is surely better...

Helz said:

I'm not complaining about my energy bill or my council tax bill. And dozens of castles/ historical monuments are in prime city centre locations - are you saying we should remove them all to make way for progress?

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You cant compare castles and monuments etc to redundant and unwanted industrial buildings, thats crazy. There is nothing historic about tinsley towers, nor was there anything historic about the hundreds of other cooling towers that have been demolished in the UK over the last 30+ years........what makes you think there is something special about them?

sledge said:

You cant compare castles and monuments etc to redundant and unwanted industrial buildings, thats crazy. There is nothing historic about tinsley towers, nor was there anything historic about the hundreds of other cooling towers that have been demolished in the UK over the last 30+ years........what makes you think there is something special about them?

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There may be nothing hisotic about it now, but in 1000 years, I am sure people will be interested in this period of history and how we lived and therefore some (not all) of it should be maintained.

Stu DemonD said:

But then that is only a 2 day weekend, a 3 day weekend is surely better...

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Possibly, but I thought a lot of people go away for the weekend on bank holiday? Btw, I have no idea where this motorway is, so it might be a quiet one thats never used for all I know lol

i want them to stay. its their image and they have come to mean something.

I find them interesting, and why were they different? they not only have holes around the top but different designs.

The original proposal was to do the work overnight to reduce lost revenue from road closure and meadowhall closure.

I understand the looking back at the past thing, we do it all over the place. Town centres, villages, countryside.

Leyland has a leyland trucks clock on a roundabout, wigan college has a mining wheel.

Concrete isnt going to last though, and sadly these towers are in a bad way, but i thought battersea power station was restored and used for something else, then last month i found out its not, its how it was left after being stripped out and its towers are to unsafe and beyond repair.

but thats in london so it'll get fixed

Kier said:

I have no idea where this motorway is, so it might be a quiet one thats never used for all I know lol

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London to the north / east, main route. very busy!

like the M6 but on t'other side of t'hills!