By Beacon Staff
There’s
a sinkhole under the railroad tracks at the corner of Seventh and
Valley Streets, and if it isn’t fixed soon, a disaster could be in the
offing.
Nick MacGregor, assistant city manager
for public works, apprised the Burlington city council of the situation
Monday night (Nov. 15) during the council’s regular meeting.
“I
wouldn’t say this is Armageddon or anything,” MacGregor said. “I don’t
think it’s going to be where you’re going to have a train in the sewer,
but there is the possibility that you could have a major collapse in
that area if we don’t deal with it in a quick manner.”
In
response, the council unanimously approved a resolution acknowledging
the emergency nature of combined sewer repair work at Seventh and Valley
Streets.
MacGregor estimated the emergency
repairs could cost upwards of $200,000, though that was a very rough
estimate. MacGregor said the hole was brought to his attention by the
BNSF Railroad late last week, and it is significant.
MacGregor said city crews used a camera in a manhole, and were able to see water and flaking stone.
“You can see clear down through the flow into the Market Street sewer,” he said.
A
permanent fix, which MacGregor hopes to get started as soon as
possible, would require a construction crew to make a separate entrance
into the sewer, likely to the west of the railroad tracks. He described
it as an old, stone arch sewer, 8 foot-by-foot, and the only access
point is a manhole cover used for cameras. He believes rebar could be
used as a quick fix.
“The break isn’t as severe
as we saw in the Hawk Eye arch line sewer. We had a bigger collapse
than we have here. It looks like we just have a section of stone that
collapsed,” MacGregor said.
Once a new access
point and staging area is created, workers will likely have to don
underwater scuba type gear to get into the sewer – which can get pretty
expensive.
MacGregor said most of the funds in
the emergency sewer fund should be available. That figure was not
available during the meeting.