Construction on sinkhole in Downtown expected to be finished by June 30

Seven months and one global pandemic later, the Downtown street in which a Port Authority bus was half-engulfed by a sinkhole in October is finally set to reopen later this month.

Construction on the hole — located on 10th Street between Liberty and Penn avenues — is “about 50% done,” and the street is set to reopen June 30 “weather pending,” says Mora McLaughlin, construction communications project manager for the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority.

Ms. McLaughlin said the most difficult parts of the project have been completed. Most importantly, all the debris from the sinkhole has been cleared away, which she said was essentially “the first 30% of the work.”

All the curbing has also been finished, and crews have back-filled all the necessary areas, which is evident walking past the construction site.

Crews are currently in the process of “laying down the base layer of the road,” Ms. McLaughlin said.

That aspect of the restoration is “going to be the big push for the next week or so,” she said, and PWSA is hoping all it will take is another week-plus of work after that before the street is open to the public again.

PWSA partnered with contractor Independent Enterprises Inc. to fix the sinkhole, which became an internet sensation when it swallowed a Port

Authority bus on Oct. 28. and inadvertently inspired a slew of memes, Halloween costumes and merchandise created by local businesses.

The whole saga has been a costly one, including an $88,000 expense to Allegheny Crane Rental to lift the bus out of the sinkhole and $536,000 split between the city and PWSA to fix the damage on 10th Street.

As the construction nears its end, PWSA is making sure its crews adhere to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That applies “whether they be contractors or employers,” Ms. McLaughlin said.

Those precautions include workers being required to wear masks, practice social distancing, use hand sanitizer as often as possible and receive health checks before entering the construction site.

“These guys are used to taking safety seriously,” she said. “We’ve been working with what we have and getting everyone back out working as soon as possible. It’s been pretty smooth so far.”

Though finishing a project of this magnitude in the middle of a worldwide health crisis isn’t ideal, the relative lack of people on the streets of Downtown did make crews’ lives easier in one regard.

“Traffic hasn’t been an issue,” Ms. McLaughlin said.