An excavation digging into sinking pavement at Third and California streets has revealed hand-made brick infrastructure dating back to a century ago when Columbus’ sewer system was first installed.
Workers from Culy Contracting in Winchester excavated the sinkhole on Wednesday, creating a 10-foot by 10-foot hole, about 12 feet deep, in Third Street, one of the main arteries heading westbound into downtown Columbus.
Workers were somewhat surprised to find that below the pavement was open space and a crumbling brick manhole, with a criss-crossing of various conduits, some operational electrical conduits for the streetlight and others of unknown origin, said Scott Dompke, Columbus City Utilities executive director.
“There was just an enormous void under the pavement,” Dompke said. “The brick structure (manhole) holding it up had a hole in its side … this could have been a much worse situation.”
For more on this story, see Friday’s Republic.
