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A landscaper came within a few inches of a 25-foot-deep cavern while mowing grass on Arrowood Drive Thursday morning.

At about 9 a.m., the mower felt a tire slip by the side of the road and discovered the tire had broken through the earth. About 5 inches below the ground he was mowing across was a 25- to 27-foot-deep sinkhole, about 10 feet by 15 feet wide, said Jack Frazier, Clarksville Street Department engineering manager.

Arrowood Drive, which is off of Fort Campbell Boulevard near Purple Heart Parkway, was closed from the back entrance of Walmart to the veterans home currently under construction. Construction workers will be able to access that site via Jordan Road, according to a city news release.

Sinkholes are fairly common in Clarksville, which has what's known as karst terrain. "I've seen better ones and I've seen worse," Frazier said.

He said the department was lucky that the hole was created by the wheel of a lawnmower and not by a heavy construction truck, which might have fallen through.

Repairing the hole will follow the standard procedure: A geotextile fabric will be laid down to stop the soil from continuing to sink, then large stones will be put in place, capped by about 12 inches of poured concrete, Frazier said.

One trick is that a 42-inch drainage pipe runs through the work area, so the concrete will come up short of the pipe in case the pipe ever needs repairs. The remainder of the hole will be filled with small stone and dirt.

Frazier said the street may not be reopened until this weekend.