Pellissippi Parkway back open after sinkhole repairs
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By Tuesday evening, crews were using shovels to cover the area.
About 720 tons of rock, held together like glue by mounds of cement, were used to fill the gaping hole.
Crews working for TDOT dug out the area around the hole so the road could be refilled and resurfaced.
When the hole first opened it was only a few feet wide, but estimated at 25 feet deep.May 8, 2007
SOLWAY (WATE) -- The southbound lanes of Pellissippi Parkway reopened Tuesday evening after repairs were finished on a large sinkhole that closed part of the road Monday night
Crews working for the state Department of Transportation dug out the area around the hole. It took more than a dozen dump trucks with 720 tons of rock, held together like glue by mounds of cement, to fill the gaping hole.
After excavation, the hole measured about 40 feet across and 25 feet deep.
The sinkhole was in the left lane of the southbound portion of Pellissippi Parkway near Oak Ridge Highway in Solway.
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Engineers say the sinkhole may have been forming for up to two years underground because water caused cracks in the rocks and soil.
"This is part of the Mother Nature. We cannot prevent them from happening because there is no way we can tell where they're going to happen," says TDOT engineer Saieb Haddad. That's because the makeup of East Tennessee soil includes a lot of soft limestone rock, caves and caverns.
TDOT officials won't be sure for weeks how well the repair work will hold.
"Unfortunately, we could not hit rock here so we stopped at the maximum depth we could get to without affecting the sides of the highway," Haddad says.
Drivers are responsible for their own vehicle damage from the sinkhole. According to TDOT spokesman Travis Brickey, TDOT will not be liable because crews responded as soon as there was notification about the sinkhole.
To speak to TDOT for more information about vehicle damage, call 865-594-4512.
The sinkhole opened on Monday night. Reports of the problem started coming in after 8:00 p.m.
A motorist helped direct traffic around the sinkhole with a flashlight until law enforcement arrived at the scene. [ watch video ]
When the sinkhole first opened, it was about four feet wide and estimated at 25 feet deep.
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