Foley sinkhole repair

By Allison Woodham / allison@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 8/22/16

At the Aug. 15 Foley City Council meeting, Foley’s City Engineer Chad Christian reported a sinkhole at the end of the west side of Peachtree Avenue, backing up to the Foley Municipal …

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Foley sinkhole repair

Posted

At the Aug. 15 Foley City Council meeting, Foley’s City Engineer Chad Christian reported a sinkhole at the end of the west side of Peachtree Avenue, backing up to the Foley Municipal Airport.

Christian said there was a sinkhole in the same spot several years ago that was repaired for around $29,000. It is an overflow line.

“Unfortunately a flexible pipe was used which failed at the same exact location,” he said.

This time, Christian wants to use concrete pipe to repair it.

“The sinkhole formed several months ago due to a separation at the joint between two sections of drain pipe,” Christian said. “The size of the sinkhole is due to the pipe being relatively deep (15 to 20 feet). Large rainfall events erode and carry away dirt exposed by the collapsed pipe and make the sinkhole larger.”

The city plans to take out the section that has collapsed and replace 48 feet of the pipe with concrete.

“Because it is an overflow line it’s not an emergency,” Christian said. “The road is closed and the last house’s driveway is before the closed-off area.”

Foley’s city council were all in agreement that this needed to be taken care of.

“This is a very large area,” Councilman Charlie Ebert said. “We’ve got to deal with it.”

The estimated cost for this project is between $50,000 and $60,000. The city expects this repair to be a capital project for fiscal year 2017.