Tuesday, February 08, 2000

By ALISON GRANT

PLAIN DEALER REPORTER

Utility crews were planning to work all night yesterday to repair a 10-foot-wide sinkhole that appeared at the same downtown intersection where a broken water pipe blew up 27 days ago.

The city closed the northbound lanes, but kept traffic moving in both directions in the southbound lanes. The city is urging motorists to avoid the area.

City workers found a void beneath the surface of yesterday's pavement collapse that had to be refilled, said Nancy Lesic, Mayor Michael R. White's spokeswoman. Workers last night were assessing whether underground utility lines were damaged.

Utilities Director Michael Konicek said 13 utilities share space under the intersection.

It was not immediately clear whether the sinkhole stemmed from January's water main rupture. But the sunken pavement at E. 9th St. and Rockwell Ave. was all too familiar to crews from Cleveland's Water Division, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District and Ameritech.

A sewer district inspector said the agency snaked a camera into its brick pipe to check for cracks, missing bricks or other damage.

Other workers put a dye in an Ameritech manhole vault to see if it would run into the sinkhole. "Nothing seeped into the void," a hopeful sign that the vault was intact, one employee said.

At the Tap House, closed for five days when the water main burst, manager Cassandra Svrga said she was surprised to see the street torn up again.

"Everyone came in and said, 'Gee, what happened? There's a big hole in the street again,'" she said. "I hope they figure it out."

http://www.cleveland.com/news/pdnews/metro/c08caved.ssf

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 08, 2000

Answers

Please delete this is a duplicate post.

Thanks

Martin

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 08, 2000.