© Fern Shen/Baltimore Brew
The latest victim of Baltimore's crumbling infrastructure was not just the free flow of traffic but the safety of an inspector examining the latest fallout from it - a large sinkhole that appeared on West Mulberry Street.
A longtime Department of Public Works inspector, on the scene of a collapsed portion of the road between Greene and Paca streets, fell into the hole Monday and was injured, according to DPW spokesman Kurt Kocher. "We thought he might have broken his leg, but I believe it's not broken," said Kocher, who was unable to provide further information on the injured employee, who was sent home from the hospital today.
© Baltimore Department of Public WorksEarlier photo (from Monday) of the sinkhole on Mulberry Street, near Paca Street, before it widened.
"The ground collapsed under him," DPW spokesman Jeffrey Raymond said, noting that the hole now stretches "from sidewalk to sidewalk."
Kocher said the sinkhole, roughly 30 feet deep and 40 feet in diameter, was discovered at the site of a 20-inch water main that was recently installed but had not been put into service.
The new water line was to replace an 8-inch main that had broken a few weeks ago and been repaired. "There might have been an additional undetected leach or void created under the road," said Kocher.
That portion of the west-east thoroughfare is covered with concrete. The leakage and erosion might have been detected more quickly if the road surface was asphalt and "the water came bubbling up," Kocher said. On the other hand, Kocher said a hole in the 80-inch sewer main, also located in that spot, could be the culprit. "That could explain where the soil has gone," he said.
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