Second sinkhole strikes city streets

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This article was published 26/07/2022 (1503 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the second time in less than a week a large sinkhole has opened at a Winnipeg intersection.

The latest crater — located at St. Matthews Avenue and Spruce Street — has closed traffic on its inside lanes.

Winnipeg police first notified the public about the sinkhole through a tweet around 6 a.m. Tuesday. City crews arrived at the scene to investigate and later initiated an emergency repair.

“The cause of the sinkhole is still under investigation. We cannot provide a repair timeline until we are able to determine the cause of the sinkhole,” a City of Winnipeg spokesperson said in an email statement.

“Sinkholes form when voids develop below the surface of the road. Voids can form when a pipe has become broken and the surrounding material starts to enter the sewer. Water main breaks or large rainfalls can exacerbate these issues. The city monitors sewer conditions with sewer televising, which helps to detect issues with sewers before voiding begins.”

On July 21, a sinkhole appeared at the intersection of Salter Street and Inkster Boulevard after a failure at a manhole.

No injuries have been reported at either location.

University of Manitoba engineering Prof. Ahmed Shalaby suggested the recent collapses may be caused by the amount of precipitation Winnipeg has logged this year.

“It seems to me that both sinkholes were caused by collapsed catch basins or pipes at each location. Catch basins are large underground concrete boxes that connect sewer or stormwater pipes and trap sediments such as stones or debris,” he said.

“One common scenario is that the concrete of the catch basin deteriorates due to cracking and exposure to salt and corrosive chemicals in the soil. They may also be damaged by heavy trucks, frozen water or by pressure due to frost heave. Excessive moisture, as the case of this spring and summer, accelerates the process by weakening the soil that supports the pipes and the road by flooding the pipe network.”

City roads continue to be an area of concern for residents.

Kyle Maskiw lives near the St. Matthews sinkhole and wishes the city spent more money on infrastructure.

“If memory serves, this is the second one on St. Matthews in the past 10 years or so. For me, what’s unsettling is the poor conditions our roads all over the city are in,” Maskiw said.

In 2022, auto advocate group CAA has received 34,097 tow/winch calls in Manitoba, which includes calls where cars have been damaged due to potholes and Manitoba Public Insurance has reported 2,059 pothole-related claims in Winnipeg.

The city said the sinkhole at Salter and Inkster might take up to a month to repair.

bryce.hunt@freepress.mb.ca