Oh, that sinking feeling ... follow the gopher trail

A few weeks ago ITD issued a news release in the aftermath of a major Chicago sinkhole, warning motorists to watch for and report sinkholes they encounter on state highways.

A self-fulfilling prophesy or merely a coincidence?

Monday night (May 6) ITD maintenance crews responded to a great depression on Idaho 78 east of Givens Hot Springs, near Marsing. The culprits, as they were in the tragic death last summer of Sonia Lopez, were gophers that undermined the roadway, causing the surface to weaken and sag.

“When I arrived it was shortly after 7 p.m. and two Owyhee County Sheriff deputies were already on scene,” said Murphy maintenance foreman Dave Stephenson. The Marsing maintenance crew, with help from the Caldwell crew and a private backhoe operator, excavated a hole that was 2-feet-deep x 3-feet-wide x 6-feet-long. They filled it with three-quarter-inch gravel and topped it with a temporary patch.

The department was consulting with Digline to determine the placement of underground utilities in the area before excavating any further, and will need to return soon to pave the section with permanent asphalt.

Stephenson estimated the cost for the initial emergency fix was about $1,200 – the approximate costs in man-hours for the personnel involved and equipment rental charges . Some of the material used for the fix already were stockpiled in the maintenance yard.
 
ITD’s emergency fix and permanent repairs are funded by the department’s maintenance budget. That amount will be determined after ITD investigates the extent of the repairs needed.

Published 5-10-13