Raleigh sinkhole repairs complete, but heavy rain will test other roads
The rain expected Tuesday should not be a problem for commuters on Newton Road after officials completed repairs to a sinkhole that formed in May.
Effective Monday afternoon, drivers in north Raleigh could resume using Newton Road to travel between Falls of Neuse and Six Forks roads.
The 25-foot-deep sinkhole opened on Newton Road during a May 21 storm, and city engineers initially said it would take until late August to complete repairs.
The city says it can take 8 to 12 months to make repairs to a sinkhole that large.
In recent weeks, crews have replaced the broken stormwater pipe that caused the sinkhole with a 120-foot-long culvert, worked with utility companies on shifting electric, water, phone, cable and internet lines and rebuilt and repaved Newton Road over the new culvert. Nearby businesses told WRAL they took a hit during repairs.
"There's people that live right behind us, and for them to take the detour, they just didn't stop here," said Rashanne Gagnon, who works at Cruizers on Six Forks Road.
The repairs to the Newton Road sinkhole are complete now, but heavy rain will test other roads. It was heavy rain that caused Newton Road to collapse in May, shutting down the area for two months.
Raleigh leaders say the repairs were built to withstand a 10-year rainstorm, which is a storm that has a 1-in-10, or 10 percent, chance of occurring within a calendar year.
