In relation to the thread about a 3 month closure to repair the road,messages left on a comments page have said trucks are to be blame.
But the maritime and railway engineer Isambard Brunel tested the geological structure of the rocks in the valley where the problem is today.
He ruled it was not suitable to build on but the A36 is there now.
A major trunk route.
So the Nimbies have got their facts wrong and tarnish trucks for a problem that has been there since the valley was formed in the Ice Age.
Brunel knew what he was talking about.
He designed the first tunnel under a river.
The Box railway.
The SS Great Britain that crossed the Atlantic.
toby1234abc:
Brunel knew what he was talking about.
He designed the first tunnel under a river.
The Box railway.
The SS Great Britain that crossed the Atlantic.
Generally, yes, I admire the man, I love driving over the Tamar Bridge and seeing “I.K. Bruner, engineer, 1859” at each end, although we shouldn’t forget that Brunel also designed broad gauge railways, the Victorian equivalent of the Betamax video recorder. 
the broad gauge railway would have been better for high-speed passenger trains, but was too narrow for use in coal mines.
I’ve been told the following about Box tunnel…I don’t know if it is true, but it’s a nice story.
If at dawn on the 9th of April you stand on the track at the western end of Box Tunnel, you can see the sun rise through the eastern portal of the tunnel.
The 9th of April is IKB’s birthday.
IKB was a legend wasn’t he!!
Harry Monk:
toby1234abc:
Brunel knew what he was talking about.
He designed the first tunnel under a river.
The Box railway.
The SS Great Britain that crossed the Atlantic.Generally, yes, I admire the man, I love driving over the Tamar Bridge and seeing “I.K. Bruner, engineer, 1859” at each end, although we shouldn’t forget that Brunel also designed broad gauge railways, the Victorian equivalent of the Betamax video recorder.
Broad gauge was a better engineering solution, but most other railways were still using the gauge they’d used in the mines and so Brunel lost out when the gauge was standardised.
As for the nimbys in Bath, they’re miffed that their last attempt to ban trucks failed, so they are looking for any reason to gets trucks banned. Although it seems most of the area wants the same thing.
GasGas:
the broad gauge railway would have been better for high-speed passenger trains, but was too narrow for use in coal mines.I’ve been told the following about Box tunnel…I don’t know if it is true, but it’s a nice story.
If at dawn on the 9th of April you stand on the track at the western end of Box Tunnel, you can see the sun rise through the eastern portal of the tunnel.
The 9th of April is IKB’s birthday.
Sadly, it’s not true. Coincidentally, I’m in the middle of rereading Adrian Vaughan’s excellent biography of Brunel, and he pretty comprehensively debunks the 9th April myth. Brunel was relying on the excellence of his engineering to bring him lasting fame and fortune, not some astronomical trickery. The sun does shine through the tunnel every four years on April 6th/7th and September 5th/6th, apparently, but by accident rather than by Brunel’s design.
Brunel was a great civil engineer, but he had rather too much of an ego. He was prone to treating engineers of equal intellect as inferiors and to taking too much responsibility on his own shoulders, and his work (and the finances of the shareholders of the companies he was working for) sometimes suffered as a result. His treatment of Hugh and David McIntosh (contractors on the Great Western Railway) and of John Scott Russell spring to mind. A great engineer, but flawed in many respects.
He also went to school in France and studied at Caen university.
It seems in Bath,that lorries are to blame for everything.But they are happy with all the tourist coaches polluting the city.
One poster on the comment page insists on a truck ban on the A36 around Bath.
Why are coaches allowed up and down Brassknocker Hill.This is the very steep gradient where a German concert tour bus crashed.
Bath is a nightmare for multi droppers.
You can be verbaly assaulted by do gooders.
One driver told me a Nimby stuck his head in the passenger window giving him abuse for driving over a pavement.
There was no choice due to bad car parking or double parking.
It is expected Bradford on Avon will have many trucks flouting the weight limit to bypass the A36 closure.
Bath needs a bypass.Batheaston bypass should have joined to the other side of the Lower Bristol road and join up to the Bristol ring road at Keysham.It was a waste of money and tree huggers put the cost up to evict them.
toby1234abc:
Brunel knew what he was talking about.
Here’s one of his local to me which opened 150 yrs ago…
Rhythm Thief:
. Brunel . A great engineer, but flawed in many respects.
Seems to be true of so many great people. The very qualities that make them great in some respects are the same things that make them obnoxious and difficult to work or live with.
Is there anything in your book about his relationship with Robert Stephenson? I’ve read accounts that they had a great respect for each other and their work.
But Robert was a less confident person and not such a self publicist as Brunel.
A story I heard that showed the difference in character but respect and friendship they had, was Robert Stephenson told Brunel he was worried about getting the box sections for the Conway rail bridge into place and wondered is he would come and offer some moral support. Brunel the confident showman arrived at the bridge stood on top of one the box sections being floated into position.
Probably not true, but it would be nice to think there were some elements of truth in there somewhere. 
Brunel and Stephenson were indeed great friends, and Stephenson was one of the few people Brunel accepted as an equal. But that didn’t stop them having some robust disagreements.
Perhaps the others weren’t his equal. When I look at his legacy I can’t say I really have a problem with the fact he wasn’t a people person.
Harry mentioned the Broad Gauge as a Brunel failure, to that add the Atmospheric Railway. Basically a vacuum driven scalextric. 
Although well engineered, the SS Great Eastern was a commercial disaster too.
that aint broad gauge
this is broad gauge
Rabbits are usually responsible for roads subsiding.
But they are cute furry little things and lorries are big and smelly.
Rhythm Thief:
Brunel and Stephenson were indeed great friends, and Stephenson was one of the few people Brunel accepted as an equal. But that didn’t stop them having some robust disagreements.
Joseph Locke actually worked for Stephenson and his dad at their locomotive works in Newcastle upon Tyne.
But their friendship was strained when Locke was asked to re survey the Liverpool and Manchester railway after both Stephenson and an engineer called Charles Vignoles. Joseph Locke report was critical of the work which had all ready been done but they carried on working together.
Locke was thought of to be a better man manager than either Brunel or Stephenson and was a lot more careful with money on projects and could get more value for his employers money. He was also very good at estimating final costs of jobs. Locke also built the West Coast Main line, where Stephenson had no confidence in locomotives going up steep gradients he planned for the route to go around Morcombe Bay and West ■■■■■■■■■■ saying that it was the only viable way from Liverpool to Carlisle.
Locke however had more confidence and built the line over Shap Fell introducing gradients of 1 in 75 and saving a hell of a lot of money and time in the process.
He also built the Sheffield to Manchester railway including the 3 mile Woodhead tunnel where 32 navvies died and 140 were seriously injured in the building process. He designed and built railways up Scotland and in France and Spain and very rarely used tunnels in any of them claiming too high costs and time consuming in building them. Locke did become friends with Stephenson again and was actually a pallbearer at his funeral, he was also good friends with Brunel. However it was Locke and Stephenson that spoke out against Brunel and his 7 foot gauge he was using to the Gauge Comissioners and suggested that the 4 foot 8 1/2 inch gauge should be used the commissioners agreed and their gauge was used as standard. Locke died in 1860 and Locke Park which is around the corner from where I live was dedicated to his memory by his wife Phoebe in 1862. Sorry about the drawn out history lesson but people tend to forget about Joseph Locke when talking about our great engineers and he had an awfull lot in common with Brunel and Stephenson, all 3 were good friends at some point and all 3 died not very long after each other.