SCDOT spokesman Bob Kudelka said a washout closed Wire Road in Dorchester County on Monday. Wire Road is located about half a mile from the Orangeburg County line in Reevesville.
On-site SCDOT engineer David Pilch said the first warning of a sinkhole came Sunday night on a call by the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
Pilch says when his crews arrived in the morning, the sinkhole was five feet wide and several feet deep. Those measurements changed early in the afternoon when Kudelka reported the sinkhole grew to 10 feet deep and seven feet wide.
Monday morning both lanes of Wire Road were closed.
"Normally in the past we really haven't had these issues," said Pilch. "Once a few years you'll see something like this happen, luckily for Dorchester County this is the only major one we've had."
After finding out the sinkhole was the product of a larger problem, the pipe (crossline) beneath the road, SCDOT crews started surgery on the street.
"In this case what happened was there was such a large amount of water rushing through the pipe, the pipe separated at the joints and it created a suction," said Pilch. "And it starting pulling the shoulder in and pavement away from this area causing the hole."
Pilch says rain is the culprit and it's weakening pipes and older roadways across the state.
Crews hope to complete the work on the Wire Road sinkhole Tuesday afternoon and re-open the road before nightfall.
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter