A sinkhole on Southwest Trafficway, one of Kansas City’s busiest streets, is “complex in nature,” city officials tell Axios, as crews work to understand what happened.
The big picture: Sinkholes aren’t exactly a common occurrence in KC, and this big one came out of nowhere.
Zoom in: The street cave-in was first reported Wednesday around 2pm in the northbound lane, per KC Water.
- As of Thursday afternoon, both directions were reduced to one lane between I-35 and 31st Street. Crews removed the concrete divider and excavated a portion of the road.
- The road sees more than 40,000 vehicles per day, according to a recent city study.
What they’re saying: No one was reported injured, KC Water public information officer Desmond Nugent tells Axios.
- He says they’ll know more once the repair job is done, and it’s too soon to estimate costs.
Context: A 2019 cave-in on Gillham Road cost $700,000 to fix. KC Water director Terry Leeds at the time blamed it on aging sewers and heavy rainfall.
- KC’s most recent storm was a week prior to the Southwest Trafficway sinkhole.
What we’re watching: No timeline has been given for the repairs…