Emergency repair work continues on sinkhole in Sacramento street

Emergency repair work is continuing on a Sacramento street after a large sinkhole caused a city truck to get stuck.

Work is being done to stabilize and fill the sinkhole along 5th Street and Crate Avenue in Sacramento's Upper Land Park neighborhood. The problem first surfaced suddenly last April.

The City of Sacramento said that one of its utility trucks was driving by when the roadway surface collapsed. The truck's rear tires were buried inside the gaping hole in the ground.

Emily Gerofsky lives in the area and has seen it expand.

"The hole kept growing and getting bigger and actually reaching further and further down our street, and it was probably at some point maybe 10 to 12 feet deep," Gerofsky said.

Inspectors found the sinkhole was just the tip of the problem. Under the roadway, the ground had caved in causing a 60-inch sewer main pipe to fail.

Engineers are also concerned that underground erosion poses a risk to nearby structures.

"I'm less than 100 feet away from it and it's kind of crazy that it could expand," said Carney King, who also lives nearby.

The sinkhole is on a main street leading into The Mill, a neighborhood of about 600 homes and apartments that are less than a decade old.

"I think the larger concern that a lot of us have is we don't know if this is an issue that's present in other spots," Gerofsky said.

Fifth Street has been closed during the emergency repairs, creating another hassle for homeowners.

"Everyone's been rerouted through the neighborhood so we've had a lot of challenges with traffic, with people speeding through here," Gerofsky said.

Gerofsky said that there are still a lot of unanswered questions about the sinkhole's cause.

"We've received zero communication from the city about what happened, what they're doing to fix it," Gerofsky said.

The city utility department said emergency repairs could cost up to $1.5 million. They're hoping the project will be completed next month.