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Thanks, as it happens I know quite a lot about how council funding works and about constructing drainage. Most underpasses are very old and were built in more innocent times. The fact that the shit show of Abrogation of Government since at least 2010 has perversely and wrongly devastated councils' finances means that one needs to make the case for what has to be funded all the more forcefully, obviously alongside far more meaningful work on climate chaos. Any investment here will save enormous amounts later. There are obviously other local projects on that list, but building good drainage is a bread-and-butter issue, and, as I said, absolutely not rocket science. It's similar to flood protection in the North in that it's simply ridiculously underfunded (and again, at the same time it is far more important to remove/reduce the causes of such uneven weather at source, not that European governments are really doing that). London boroughs get roughly £3-4m (varies quite a lot and is higher for some) for street infrastructure work a year, which may sound like a lot but is actually not very much compared to the backlog.
If the underpass can't be open at all times, barriers need to be installed that are closed when it's flooded and the flooding is expected. It's not acceptable, no matter how dozy drivers may be, that there is the prospect of them getting caught in this sort of situation. It's different with the German driver fussballclub posted--he was driving on a flooded road for quite a long time before he foundered, as opposed to the very short distances that such underpasses cover, effectively like flooded fords, when conditions on the streets leading up to them are clear. Where the hazard is very much unlike conditions surrounding it, and it's unclear how deep the water is, drivers and others need to be actively prevented from driving into it.
Good and safe public infrastructure is a public right, and politicians must not be allowed to get away with utter inaction in the face of problems like this. If you don't tackle problems, they only become more and more expensive as time goes by.
Oliver Schick-
Well, it happens that I work on railways so I know a bit about drainage as well. And you are right: for the relatively small investment, a lot can be improved. Drainage is "not sexy", so these projects don't get too much attention. Mostly it is reactive and only until something like that happens, it gets attention required, but then: most of the budgets are thrown on the responsive measures.
Having said that, it is worth to weight it if the money spent to mitigate 1 in 100 years event is worth it and I personally think that I am happy to give up the right to use underpass once in a long while if it means the money is spent elsewhere more efficiently.
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unclear how deep the water is
Near where I grew up there was a ford with a very helpful height guide sign to show the depth. They were installed after a tragic accident there once. I can't help thinking that installing these in underpasses would be a relatively simple cost effective way of showing the depth. Maybe in metric too.
BartS
oat44
This is not that simple as you might think: what event are you preparing for? There is a question if the underpass should be open at all times (massive drainage/water retention system - ££££) or we can accept it being closed once in a while. What is the future? Should we expect more of events considering change of climate? Add tight council budget, now affected by Covid, and the works like that by no surprise are at the bottom of the to do list.