Work to Begin on Sinkhole in Hart County
Now that the holiday weekend is over, work to fix a giant sinkhole in Hart County is getting underway in earnest.
Last week, the Georgia Department of Transportation awarded the $1 million dollar contract to E.W. Snell Contractors of Snellville.
The sinkhole on SR51/Reed Creek Highway developed May 6th and was discovered by a motorist who almost drove into it.
When G-DOT crews pulled back the sunken asphalt, they discovered a hole 10-feet across at the top going down at least 20 feet deep.
G-DOT District Engineer for Northeast Georgia Bayne Smith determined the scope of the repair work required was too large for G-DOT crews and an outside contractor was hired.
Spokesperson Teri Pope said however, contractors have already discovered the problem is even bigger than originally thought.
Pope said, “As typical with sinkholes, the more you get down to the root of the problem, the bigger the problem gets. The pipe that we thought was 150ft. long is now 180ft long, in reality. And we thought it was 10 feet in diameter, and it is 13ft in diameter. It begins to look like just a a little thing, and when you get down to the root problem, it is a bigger issue that caused all of this.”
Pope said crews with E.R. Snell spent much of last week doing prep work which involves creating a dry area on either end of the culvert pipe by building temporary dams to hold back the lake waters.
With all the work involved, people living in the area can expect that stretch of SR51 to remain closed for much of the summer.
“They have already ordered the custom pipe that will be needed, the 180ft. long pipe. It will take about 4 weeks to manufacture. So, that is why the first thing they did is order that pipe. The contractor said it would take about 90 days to finish it, and that would date would be August 23rd.”
That culvert pipe, Pope said was made of corrigated metal, which corroded over time and then collapsed.
Pope said a new pipe is being made but out of a much stronger material,
“The new pipe is a coated steel pipe that is a lot more durable. The metal corrugated pipe is what a lot of people use under their driveways and in their ditches. This new type is much sturdier. It’s coated, so it should not rust, but I can’t guarantee anything. We shouldn’t have had this sinkhole. “
Once the new culvert pipe is in place, crews will then have to fill the 20-foot deep sinkhole and resurface the roadway.
Motorists can expect the detour around the work site to be in place through the end of August.