Tropical Storm Lee has come and gone, but it left behind a massive memento: a sinkhole that has devoured Broadway's riverbound lanes between Maple and Hampson streets. The cave-in happened sometime Saturday, when a 21-inch sewer main about 20 feet below the surface fractured while Lee's rain was pelting the area.
No one knows why it broke, Sewerage & Water Board spokesman Robert Jackson said.
Repairs have been under way since then, and temporary street repair -- gravel backfill or temporary pavement -- should be complete Friday, he said.
While work continues on Broadway, riverbound traffic has been rerouted onto one lane on the lakebound side of the street between Maple and Hampson streets.
The repair is taking several days because crews have to work around a 6-inch water main and a 12-inch water main that run above the sewer line.
There is no chance of cross-contamination between the leaking sewer line and the water lines, Jackson said, because the water lines are 18 to 19 feet above the sewer line.
The sewer break isn't "something that sends any environmental concerns into the neighborhood," he said.