(Before It's News)
As of now, we believe Tennessee to be the only other state in the country with mandatory sinkhole coverage. I have read recently that some states such as Alabama, Texas, Missouri and Michigan have at least considered adding mandatory sinkhole coverage to their statutes but, as of now nothing is concrete. So here are some articles from other areas outlining their issues with sinkhole activity.
A 24 foot wide sinkhole closed down a major interstate in Glendale Arizona. There is some question if this was truly a natural occurrence as sinkholes are after they found dry pipes but wet mud below the road surface. This may indicate some other issue with busted pipes or leaking that cause an erosion of the soils beneath the road. It’s always interesting to see though that they use similar repair techniques.
Article found HERE
A sinkhole has forced the closing of a small bridge on Hanley Road, just east of .. A sinkhole has forced the closing of a small bridge on Hanley Road, just east of U.S. 42 in Washington Township. A car hit a pothole, damaging the car and causing the pavement to collapse, leaving a 10-foot deep hole.
Richland County Engineer’s Road Superintendent Greg Bush said the flooding three weeks ago started the problem, when the water receded and pulled some of the base fill from beneath the bridge.He says it will take until next Wednesday to fix and re-open.
Crews have been working on the sinkhole since Thursday afternoon. People who live near the busy crossroad bordering East Hartford, Manchester and South Windsor are finding that the easiest way to get around the area is on foot. The town of South Windsor is making the repairs because it was the town’s 24-inch sewer line caused the 15-foot-deep hole. The initial belief was the pipe was going to be replaced and the road patched up by midday Friday.
But crews keep finding more and more of the sewer line needed to be replaced. ”We’re hopeful that we get 10, 15 feet down, and we’ll be able to find pipe that is structurally sound,” said Michael Gantick, of the South Windsor Department of Public Works. The good news is that no one has lost sewer service because of sinkhole, and this line serves customers including the Buckland Hills Mall area nearby.
Middletown, Ohio. March 17th, 2011.
A sinkhole 30 feet wide and 15 feet deep poses a hazard for bicyclists in a part of southwest Ohio.
The hole that opened up earlier this week has chomped a big bite out of a bike path in Middletown, halfway between Cincinnati and Dayton.
City Public Works Director Dave Duritsch tells the Middletown Journal that ground saturated from heavy rain sank into openings in a 60-year-old sewer pipe and was flushed away.
Bob Monaghan wakened to a loud boom on Monday morning – then saw an oil truck stuck in a sinkhole on Conant Drive.
The truck had been on its way to Monaghan’s raised ranch to fill the oil tank, but it never made it as its wheels got stuck in thick mud oozing from underneath the pavement.
The 8:15 a.m. incident led police, fire, DPW crews and two large cranes to the cul-de-sac on the city’s West Side to remove the truck from the deep rut.
“The most amazing thing was they put a big yellow strap around the truck and literally picked it up like a big baby,” said Monaghan, 58, from the living room of his home on Monday.
Mark Willis, the truck driver, said he had a sinking feeling – after his truck couldn’t go any further.
At first, Willis thought all the tires on the passenger side went flat. Then, the asphalt started shooting out from underneath the truck, he said.
“When I looked down, I was like, ‘Holy cow.’ The truck just sank,” said Willis, 50, of West Bridgewater. “I mean, it was just all muck.”
Monday afternoon, bright red street cones surrounded a large patch of Conant Drive where the sinkhole appeared. Large areas of brown mud seeped through cracks in the asphalt.
After the truck sank, crews pumped out about 17,000 pounds of fuel into another truck to lighten the load so that cranes could lift the vehicle out of the hole.
“We’ve certainly on driveways had some issues, but I don’t recall ever having had a vehicle fall into a road, ever,” said Jim Bicknell, owner of the Weymouth-based Alvin Hollis & Co.
He said the vehicle checked out “completely fine” for its weight limit.
Michael Thoreson, Brockton’s Department of Public Works commissioner, said he’s not sure exactly why the sinkhole occurred.
“It could be water underneath the pavement. The pavement just gave way,” Thoreson said.
Last year, the city saw a couple of similar incidents, where water ran underneath the asphalt top and “kind of erodes the bottom,” he said.
“Another issue could be a private subdivision where the road wasn’t built to specification … over the years that breaks down,” he said.
City crews are assessing damages on Conant Drive, he said.
It was unclear on Monday when the street would be fixed, since Conant Drive is a private road and is not eligible for state or federal funding, Thoreson said.
“We’ll figure out what it looks like to fix, see what we got in the budget and see if we can get it fixed,” he said.
Shelley Monaghan, who lives on Conant Drive, hopes that happens soon.
“We’re on a cul-de-sac. I don’t know how fast it’s going to get fixed,” she said.
A 30-foot deep sink hole opened in the parking lot at Clifton Knolls apartment complex off Woodlee Road Friday afternoon.
“That’s probably one of the deepest I’ve ever seen in this area,” said Staunton Fire Chief Scott Garber.
“I worked one probably 10 years ago that had three horses in it.”
But no horses, pets or residents were trapped or hurt at Clifton Knolls on Friday because of the six-foot wide sink hole that opened in the blacktop near some apartments.
Garber said Staunton is prone to sink holes for a number of reasons, but they are natural occurrences.
Garber said to fix a problem like this construction crews would have to dig the dirt out around the area and fill it in solid
A failed storm drain that caused a sinkhole on Princess View Drive near Fontaine Street in Allied Gardens in January appears to be the cause of yet another sinkhole in the neighborhood.
On Jan. 10, residents noticed a dip forming in the street a couple of days before the street gave in. City crews had the street repaired in about a week.
On Mar. 4 the Mission Times Courier learned a sinkhole appeared in the same area where the previous sinkhole was filled.
The Mission Times Courier hasn’t been able to reach City officials for comment. In early February, City spokesman Bill Harris said the storm drain repair is lower on the City’s priority list since crews have faced an unusually high number of repairs following the heavy December rains but said the City hopes to begin the design phase of this project in the near future.
Toledo police say a massive sinkhole was clearly marked with orange barrels and fencing, but apparently a driver wasn’t paying attention!
They say the woman slammed through the barriers in the 2500 block of Robinwood Avenue and ended up in a sinkhole about three to four feet deep. We’re told the driver is okay. However, she will be charged with failure to control.
Traffic was shutdown in the area of Camelback Road and 67th Avenue in Glendale Sunday afternoon because of a sinkhole.
Glendale fire spokesman Daniel Valenzuela said the sinkhole is right in the middle of the intersection. Valenzuela said the fire department was called to the scene for a possible gas leak after someone reported smelling natural gas.
A representative on scene with Maricopa Flood Control said a project to replace the storm sewer at the intersection was recently completed. He said excess rain along with the construction likely contributed to the trench failure.
Gosford, New South Wales, Australia.
March 21st, 2011. (via thesinkhole.org)
Tuesday, Mar 29 2011
A giant sinkhole tore open a suburban street after heavy rain infiltrated a sewer main, causing it to fail.
The hole first opened up on Sunday afternoon, gradually widening to become an 8m-wide, 6m-deep chasm by yesterday afternoon.
SES controller Rolf Garda said it “was the most amazing thing I have seen”.
“When I got there it was about 2m square and no one knew what to do so I called our guys, the council and local police,” he said. “When I left about a half an hour later it had grown to 5m by 5m. It was just slumping in on itself.”
MILWAUKEE —City crews fixed a broken water main and are now beginning repairs on a massive sinkhole near Humboldt and Commerce in Milwaukee. It formed on Saturday evening. Two cars parked along the road fell into the sinkhole.
From fox6now:
The sinkhole is estimated to be 30 feet wide and 20 feet deep. Officials say it was caused when a 42-inch water main first laid in 1927 broke Saturday evening around 8 p.m. The sinkhole apparently cracked through around 9:30 p.m.
DOT deals with massive Highway 16 sinkhole
by Amanda Thomas/Times-Georgian
Motorists are being diverted away from one section of Highway 16 after a massive sinkhole developed for the second time in a month.
Georgia Department of Transportation crews had to fill in a 24-foot-wide sinkhole that developed on a portion of Highway 16 near Harper Road in Carrollton early Friday morning.
DOT spokesman David Spear said the sinkhole developed about 2:30 a.m. and workers finished filling the hole about 2:30 p.m. Friday. Crews had to excavate about a 24-foot by 24-foot section, then slowly build back up to fill the sinkhole.
City Patches Up Sinkhole, the Cause Still Unknown
By Akiko Oda March 9, 2011
The City of Gig Harbor seals the sinkhole on Judson Street and Pioneer Way Wednesday. It plans to continue investigating the cause.
The City of Gig Harbor continues to investigate the cause of the sinkhole at the intersection of Judson Street and Pioneer Way.
Although the exact source is still unknown, Malich said sinkholes typically occur when utility pipes are installed, and there isn't enough soil compaction under the road. He also said a punctured storm line could cause the land to depress.
