Shawnee utility crews once again found themselves looking for the cause of a sinkhole in a downtown portion of the city Monday after an Allied Waste truck became stuck in a sunken area of an alleyway near East Main.
“Allied discovered a sinkhole for us,” Randy Brock, utility operations manager, said early Monday evening. “We don’t know a lot yet. We’re still investigating but we figure it is probably a sanitary line. We’re still trying to get it to flow and get a camera through it.”
Brock said the driver of the Allied truck was likely performing a commercial job when one of the truck’s back tires fell through the asphalt and became stuck in the hole, which he estimated is about 9 feet deep. He said the alleyway — located on the north side of the 400 block of East Main — has been barricaded to prevent anyone else from driving off into the hole.
Brock said it was not likely any repairs would be made Monday night but said crews would “probably reach a stopping point” by late evening and be able to return to the site today.
He said depending on what the crews find in their investigation, the line that is buried about 13 feet below the surface “might require point repair.” The point repair, he said, means crews would “do repairs to just that spot.”
Brock said it is possible that the repair work might be contracted out rather than performed in-house but would depend on what
crews find during their inspections.
Traffic on Main shouldn’t be disrupted, Brock said. However, he said that could change if a point repair cannot be made or if it is in the best interest of crews and motorists to block off some sections for safety.
No information regarding the extent of damage to the truck or how long it was stuck was available late Monday. However, Brock said no injuries were reported following the incident.
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