Image
© WQAD
A massive sinkhole, around seven feet deep, appeared on a main road in Burlington Wednesday. Officials say a two-inch hole in an underground pipe, a water main break, caused the sinkhole.

"A lot of people are interested in it," resident Savanna Evans said. "A lot of people are taking pictures. You see it all over Facebook right now."

The sinkhole is right at the border of Burlington and West Burlington on Mount Pleasant Street.

"I drive on this street every day on my way to work, right there where this hole is," resident David Francis said.

"It does affect traffic," business owner Randy Wagler said.

Residents say they are surprised to see it.

"I kind of looked down, and was like, 'That's a big hole you've got there, mayor,'" Evans said.

"That's a big enough hole, I think my car would fit inside there," Francis said.

The Burlington Municipal Waterworks is in charge of fixing the street. Distribution supervisor Shane Johnson says this problem could have gone unseen for a long time.

"We probably didn't know about it," he said. "It could have been happening for a long time. We don't know."

He says the city gets a lot of water main breaks, but not too many sinkholes. Residents say there was a pretty big one last year that took some time to fix. They say they're happy to hear that this one won't take too long.

"We fixed the water main," Johnson said. "Now, tomorrow, we'll fix the storm drain, pour some concrete, put some gravel in, and start putting the street back. So, it should be done tomorrow or the next day."

Although traffic was affected, local shop owners say their businesses were not.