Motorists beware: That’s no ordinary pothole that has opened up on Second Avenue just north of Main Street.
A gaping hole about two feet long and one foot wide appeared near the curb about two weeks ago and was recently patched by a local Department of Transportation crew, said DOT spokesperson Jeremy Woodrow.
The hole in the asphalt surface exposed a larger cavity underneath the road and sidewalk.
On Monday, a second, smaller hole appeared near the first one, revealing a cavity about 15 inches deep at the hole, but also extending several feet toward Main Street, where it was at least twice as deep.
The avenue belongs to the state, but borough public facilities director Brian Lemcke received a call Monday after a resident complained about the hole. Lemcke asked fire chief Scott Bradford to go put out some orange construction cones.
“When I was there last night I could stick my head down there,” Bradford said.
Lemcke agreed the hole is big enough to be hazardous for vehicles and pedestrians. “It could have been very bad if someone had pulled in unawares,” he said. “A human can stick their head down there and look around.”
The larger hole that had been patched also seems to be expanding; along the edges of the patching, the road is starting to cave in.
“It’s growing or something,” Bradford said.
Local DOT relief foreman Shane Horton said the state will use a temporary patch on the holes until the cause of the problem is determined. “Nobody knows at this point what the scope of work would be,” Horton said.
Right now, patching the hole is the main priority for safety reasons, even if it isn’t a permanent fix, Horton said. “Our only concern at this point is we don’t want somebody to fall in there and break a leg,” he said.
DOT spokesperson Woodrow said the state isn’t “100 percent sure what the problem is,” though it suspects a deteriorated storm drain pipe. For now, DOT will monitor the situation.
“At some point in the future we will have to get in there,” Woodrow said.
Borough facilities director Lemcke said he doesn’t think the issue is with the storm drain system because Bradford checked the catchment and it was clear. He explained that if the material under the road was sinking into the storm drain system and causing the cavity, the catchment would be full of rocks, dirt and other debris.
The road was paved in the summer of 2012 by Southeast Roadbuilders. The $2.7 million project included paving Second Avenue between Main and Union streets, Main Street between Front and Allen roads, and Allen Road between Main Street and Old Haines Highway. It also included some curb, gutter, sidewalk and culvert work.
Most of the work was paid for with federal highway funds.