Admiral sinkhole followup: Now an ’emergency’ pipe replacement

| Safety | Utilities | West Seattle news

That big backhoe sits tonight atop what was the traffic circle at Fairmount and Forest in Admiral – which we last visited on Friday afternoon, as neighbors and passersby became increasingly worried about a growing sinkhole (first mentioned here a week ago):

(WSB photo from last Friday)
What was the traffic circle, and sinkhole, in the center of the intersection south of Fairmount Ravine is now the site of an emergency construction project to remove and replace 50 feet of “collapsed” sewer main under the street. That’s according to a notice posted at the site, which has even more heavy equipment standing by, beyond the backhoe atop the ex-circle:

One neighbor we spoke with this afternoon says the broken pipe and water from last week’s rain backed up under the street surface, and that led to the sinkhole problem. The Seattle Public Utilities notice says the emergency work will take about two weeks and may continue through weekends. In the meantime, what would have gone through the damaged pipe will be routed, says SPU’s notice, through a temporary line, so that service isn’t interrupted to nearby homes.

JLBWA March 1, 2011 (10:56 am)

These “collapsed” and leaking sewer mains are all over the city. One of the major drawbacks to concrete streets is that they will continue to grow in size under the roadway, with no sign from above until it’s too late. Ask anyone that lives on 61st Ave SW between Admiral Way & Stevens – several years ago there was literally a 9 foot deep, and 15 foot wide CAVE that developed under the roadway about mid-block from a sewer leak. No one noticed until a small hole showed up at the edge of the curb in the grass strip on the east side of the street.

If you notice unusual, and sudden or growing depressions on your street or tilting concrete street slabs, call SPU and let them know.

There’s a sinkhole coming our way in the 3000 block of Admiral Way, under the centerline of the road; they’ve continously been filling a “pothole” there for 5 years now. I was told by a SPU worker that it’s probably a leak, but at this point it would be too expensive and disruptive to the main arterial to address it any further at this time… so they just keep lumping more asphalt on top of the sinking street and keeping their fingers crossed.

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