The Washtenaw County Water Resources crew works to dig up and replace an old storm sewer under the road on Seminole Court in Pittsfield Township Thursday morning after it caused a two-foot-by-three-foot and four feet deep sinkhole in the middle of the street.
Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com
A roughly two-foot-by-three-foot area sunk four feet into the middle of the road near a manhole cover on Monday. Officials with the water resources department were made aware of the sinkhole, located on Seminole Court in Pittsfield Township between Central Boulevard and Packard Road, on Monday and marked the area with cones and tape. The hole was not large enough to cause road closure, but the road was closed on Thursday as construction crews ripped up the road to replace the damaged pipe.
“The road was compromised, and so we flagged it off with tape and cones (on Monday),” said Dennis Wojcik, Washenaw County water resources deputy commissioner.
Wojcik said an assessment was done to see if any other utilities were adversely affected by the sinkhole. It is believed that the damage is contained to the 12-inch (diameter) storm sewer and the road above, but the extent of the damage is still unknown.
“That’s what we’re looking into,” Wojcik said. “We won’t know until we get down there.”
Workers estimated that the pipe would be replaced on Thursday and repaving should be done by Friday.
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Contact Pete Cunningham at Peter Cunningham at petercunningham@annarbor.com or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.