TULSA, Okla. — A sinkhole closed lanes on Riverside at 21st Street on Monday morning.
2 News Oklahoma reached out to city officials and they originally said this could be an underground utility collapse, but investigation showed that is not the case. They said it is an isolated street related cause.
“Basically it’s a base failure. Underneath got eroded out. Contractors will go in when the weather allows and permanently fix the road with concrete. Although fairly rare, sinkholes do happen and can form over time. We don’t know whether there was a specific incident that caused it or if it just slowly eroded under there over time," said Carson Colvin with the City of Tulsa.
The city said work has been handed over the contractor, but there is not a timeline for the repair due to weather conditions.
Colvin said the city was made aware of the sinkhole around 6:30 Monday morning when a few cars hit what they thought was a pothole but later turned into this big sinkhole.
“It's always kind of shocking to see a sinkhole when you see a street, but our guys are trained for this. We have really great crews at the City of Tulsa who know how to detect what’s going on and then of course put the fix in place to make sure it’s fixed up for everyone to drive,” he said.
Crews first filled the hole with water as a way to try to see where the water is coming out to determine the cause and the extent of the damage. Colvin tells us this is an isolated incident and sinkholes are fairly rare, so there’s no concern for other parts of town.
Since this started as what drivers thought was a pothole, he encourages people who come across a pothole to call 311, report it on this website, or email it to Tulsa311@cityoftulsa.org.
The closure also impacted the ramp from 23rd Street onto Riverside. All but one southbound lane will be closed until its repaired. Find an alternate route here.
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