Local & State Headlines

Sinkhole stops traffic flow

• A water main rupture has created a large sinkhole in South Albany.

J.D. Sumner

ALBANY — State transportation officials say that it could take crews until the Independence Day weekend to re-open a highway damaged by a burst water main.

Craig Solomon, the Georgia Department of Transportation spokesperson for Region 4, said that the damage to Georgia Highway 91, also known as Newton Road, is more extensive than officials first thought. It may take workers until July 3 to make the stretch of road safe for travel again, he said.

“The problem is that we have to get a good edge to rebuild the road and that is going to require us to tear down a larger portion of the road,” Solomon said. “The pressure from the water just eroded more dirt from the under the road than we had first anticipated.”

Wednesay afternoon, a DOT contractor struck a main while boring into the ground near the intersection of South Jefferson Street and Newton Road, Solomon said.

The water from the main eroded the foundation beneath the pavement, creating a 30-by-40-foot-wide sinkhole in the highway.

Solomon said that DOT is still investigating the incident and and that he couldn’t comment as to whether the contractors knew the lines were there before they began digging.

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