Today marks an important milestone for the reconstruction of Gl. Århusvej, the former main road between Randers and Aarhus, which was hit by a major landslide last year. On Friday afternoon, the last piles of earth were removed, and this was celebrated with sausages and water for both workers and local residents. Municipality Director Jesper Kaas Schmidt expressed great satisfaction with the progress. “We have had to wait for the right time when we could slowly and calmly remove the earth bit by bit,” he said, adding, “It has gone really well. The earth is completely still, and that is the prerequisite for us to now be able to remove the piles.” The work of removing the earth began at 2 pm, where an excavator took the last shovelfuls of earth on a 150-meter long and eight-meter wide stretch. Although this is a great accomplishment, there is still a long way to go before the road can be reopened to traffic, which is expected to happen in 2025.
One of the next tasks will be to find a new location for Alling Stream, which was at risk of being contaminated by the landslide. The municipality is working on a solution where the stream will be placed slightly further east than before. In addition, planting of the area with grass, clover, and flowers has been initiated to prevent surface water from running down from the remaining slopes when it rains. “Everything is currently going our way, and of course we are happy about that. The earth is stable, and we can start looking into establishing a new course for the stream,” said Jesper Kaas Schmidt. However, he acknowledged that there is still a risk of environmental damage, and the municipality recently sent out a distress call to Christiansborg (the Danish Parliament) in the hope of obtaining more funds for the mitigation efforts. “We cannot handle the task without help. That is clear,” concluded the municipal director.