Street Sinks Near “Mother of All Potholes”
by Rod Hughes
Do you remember the “Mother of All Potholes” in Barrio Dent, near San Pedro, east of downtown San Jose? This was the more than 50 foot-deep, 40 wide gap that lasted for 18 months while two city governments fretted and feuded and motorists fumed at piled up traffic.
The good news is that it was filled in three months ago and everyone was happy.
The bad: The street is sinking again, with an alarming four foot drop in the street. So far the asphalt is holding up under the strain but it is a matter of time before it breaks up.
Engineers discount the possibility that the pothole could develop into another crater the size of the previous record-breaker. That was caused by the collapse of a drainage pipe.
The City of San Jose’s hydrologist,Marco Vinicio Corrales, says that this one developed due to the defective connection of a sewer pipe serving nearby condos. A crew tried to correct the problem a month ago but the repair didn’t hold. Torrential rains didn’t help matters, saturating the soil already undermined.
Corrales promised that this weekend, crews will dig up the sewer pipe and do the job right, for a change. Within two weeks, he promises that it will be paved and should last for 60 or 70 years.
On the other hand, without a Lindsay or a Paris in the country, what will people do for something to gossip about if the problem is cured once and for all?