During the floods, we showed you two sinkholes that appeared between miles 9 and 11 on the Western Highway. On Saturday another one appeared – this time at mile 12. And again, Works Minister of State Edmund Castro was on the scene. He told us he got the call late in the evening.
Hon. Edmund Castro, Minister of State in Ministry of Works
“A trucker called me at a quarter past five this evening and told me that another sinkhole was on the bridge portion here. What we have here is that the six foot culvert has collapsed, the bottom of the culvert is rotten completely and now it is a little bit easier for us in the sense that the water is not rushing but the job is much bigger. But because the water is not rushing and we don’t have to compete with the force of nature, then I think we
should be able to get this one, although it is bigger, we should be able to get this one completed by five o’clock in the morning.”
Jules Vasquez,
How did this sinkhole appear without the pressure of the water, is it just the vibrations?
Hon. Edmund Castro,
“Basically the culvert collapsed. The culvert is rotten and it is quite easily, with the vibration from the big trucks, it just create a whole sinkhole that breaks through the existing culvert that can no longer hold up its weight. These are effects from the flood.”
Jules Vasquez,
What type of culvert is it?
Hon. Edmund Castro,
“It is the metal one but it is a six foot so on this bridge we have two six foot culverts. What we need to do is replace them with culverts out of cement. What we need to do and I had mentioned this four weeks ago that I think all the culverts and bridges in our country are in extreme extreme dangerous situations. Most of them are obsolete and we need to try to find money so that we can replace those culverts and repair some of these bridges that we have around our country.”
The team worked through the night into morning, and Castro hung around until it was finished at 5:00 am – and traffic was restored to normal.
