THUNDER BAY — Motorists who use River Street between Farrand St. and Elm St. will have to continue to use an alternate route for the next two weeks at a minimum.
That's how long it's expected to take to reopen River after a sinkhole developed on May 5 above two large culverts which McVicar Creek flows through.
Mike Vogrig, project engineer for the City of Thunder Bay, says crews have examined the culverts and found that a plate on the bottom of one of the culverts appears to have failed.
"We had to get ahold of the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry to let them know about the situation. We're going to have to kind of dry out one side of the culvert to access it for an inspection. So we've got the approval to do that," Vogrig said Monday.
Over the next couple of days, "We're going to kind of build a road down there, divert some of the water, do an inspection. Then we're going to have to devise a repair. It means it will probably be a couple of weeks before we are able to open [River Street} back up, at a minimum."
He said how long the shutdown is necessary will depend largely on how much of the culvert needs to be repaired.
Vogrig noted that it's not uncommon to have culvert issues during the spring thaw, but "this is quite a sizable one."
Culverts are typically inspected every couple of years., but city staff previously observed no issues at this location.
"We'll have to do some investigation work to find out how it failed and what happened on the bottom of that culvert, to make sure we're not going to have issues on the opposite side," Vogrig said.
