‘The roadway has failed.’ Photo shows huge sinkhole on University of Tennessee campus
Crews at the University of Tennessee were on campus shortly after 7 a.m. Friday when a large sinkhole opened, officials said.
A water main break on Middle Drive — a street that loops around several of the university’s science and engineering buildings — caused the roadway to collapse and the second-floor handicap entrance of one building to be completely “washed out,” UT Facilities Services confirmed in a series of tweets Friday.
“The roadway has failed in the area of the water main break,” according to a tweet shortly before 9 a.m.
Water was temporarily shut off to at least two surrounding buildings, officials said.
Gas lines running through the sinkhole — which officials referred to as “the area of the dropout” — also forced Facilities Services to cut service.
The roadway remains “impassable” for cars but pedestrian traffic is allowed, officials said.
Facilities Services was unsure how long repairs would last but advised “it could be the remainder of the day.” They also said the photo is “not of a sinkhole” but “the result of the water main break.”
Sinkholes can be natural or man-made, according to National Geographic.
They form “when water dissolves the rock underneath soil and creates an underground chasm,” the magazine reported. Without rock, the soil will collapse and create a sinkhole.
