A THREE-day investigation into a sinking city centre road has lasted more than two weeks.

Ingram Street between Queen Street and South Frederick Street has been reduced to one lane eastbound, initially for Glasgow City Council to carry out investigative work on subsidence found during a routine inspection.

The initial work started on Wednesday May 9 and was due to finish three days later – but work to repair the road surface has pushed the finishing date to Friday.

Westbound traffic between South Frederick Street and Hanover Street is currently being diverted via South Frederick Street and George Square.

The area is a busy traffic thoroughfare and main bus route to the Merchant City area, tourist attraction the Museum of Modern Art and designer shopping hub, The Italian Centre.

A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman said: "The investigation works at Ingram Street are complete.

"There was no obvious cause for the depression identified during the investigations."

Numerous incidents of road subsidence and collapses in city streets in the last year have been causing chaos for motorists.

Subsidence was reported last spring at George Square outside Jamie Oliver's Italian eaterie.

Mystery surrounded a gaping two-foot deep hole that suddenly appeared in Sauchiehall Street in July.

That incident led to council inspectors launching an investigation, while drivers faced restrictions when traffic was reduced to just one lane between Argyle Street and Kelvin Way in the West End. A city council spokesman said at the time that there was also no obvious cause for that subsidence.

In the same month, a burst underground water main caused a hole the size of a small car to appear in a busy traffic lane at George Square between South Frederick Street and Hanover Street.

A spokesman at the time said problems with burst water mains could lead to subsidence.

He added: "That often means calling in utilities to repair their infrastructure before we can fix the road and remove traffic restrictions."

Collapsed roads and potholes are a continuing nightmare for the drivers at black Hackney cab firm Glasgow Taxis.

Stephen Flynn, vice- chairman, said: "These prolonged road closures cause a great deal of disruption for our drivers.

"We always encourage the council to ensure repairs are carried out in a swift fashion.

"Ingram Street is a major access road for the Merchant City and many of Glasgow's tourist attractions.

"Our 1000-strong fleet of taxis uses it on a daily basis as they circulate the city's streets around the clock, ensuring passengers are able to get to their destinations quickly and safely."

lalita.augustine@eveningtimes.co.uk

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