Rainwater filled the budding sinkhole Saturday afternoon.
See UPDATE below
A week after a sinkhole was found developing, two blocks of Spring Street in Red Bank remained closed to traffic Tuesday morning.
But a fix is finally on the way, borough Manager Jim Gant told redbankgreen Monday night.
A motorist encountered the detour at Wallace Street and Spring Street Saturday afternoon. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Though Spring remains barricaded between between Oldfield Place and Linden Place, there’s been no sign of construction activity to address the road depression, which was first detected March 18.
As of Monday, though, the town has “secured an emergency contractor” to address the situation, Gant said in an email.
“We have authorized the contractor to mobilize ASAP, which has initiated them to call for the appropriate utility markouts,” he said. “I am hopeful that the contractor will be on site in the latter half of this week to repair and replace a storm drain that has collapsed and is causing undermining of the roadway.”
Meanwhile, “in its current state, the intersection is not safe or passable with concern of the road collapsing even further,” Gant said. “We have worked diligently with our engineer, DPU and our traffic safety unit to coordinate a quick response to this and are hopeful to have the road opened in a reasonable amount of time. I am very appreciative for the public’s patience as we managed this unexpected project.”
According to police Captain Mike Frazee, “the damage appears to be in one of the storm water laterals” that “was not part of the Spring Street project a few years ago,” he told redbankgreen Friday.
UPDATE: The borough announced late Wednesday that repair work on the sewer “is anticipated to begin tomorrow, Thursday 3/28 and continue on Friday.” Separately, a resolution on the borough council agenda for Thursday night calls for paying Capital Contracting Group LLC of South River almost $37,000 for the work.
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