By Daniela Hurtado, ABC13 Houston
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — TxDOT said several eastbound lanes on the East Freeway near Federal Road opened on Thursday afternoon after significant progress was made on repairs to the sinkhole on the left shoulder.
On Wednesday afternoon, a crater crippled the commute near the Federal Road exit. On Thursday night, that hole was filled.
TxDOT reported that the hole reached a depth of 14 feet. Officials told Eyewitness News that, while excavating to reach the waterline for repair, they created a void under the East Freeway lanes measuring 24 feet by 30 feet.
On Thursday afternoon, TxDOT confirmed they poured in three dump trucks’ worth of rock into the hole and then poured a concrete-like material.
“In my time with TxDOT, going on 15 years, this is pretty much a first,” Danny Perez, a spokesperson for TxDOT, said.
TxDOT and the City of Houston confirm this situation was caused by a ruptured city waterline under the freeway. City leaders said the waterline was installed before 1962.
The city says there’s no way to determine how long exactly the leak was there.
ABC13 asked whether the city is undertaking efforts to replace these waterlines across the city or has concerns about other freeways, but the city has not yet responded.
“So it’s really important to work together and not point fingers, it’s not about that, it’s about working together and making sure we make the best out of the situation and making sure the taxpayers and citizens of Houston,” Perez said.
TxDOT said that in the last 24 hours, the city has fixed the leak, crews have pumped water out of the hole, filled it, and poured asphalt.
The city estimates that its share of repairs will cost about $20,000. TxDOT says they don’t yet have a cost estimate for their repairs.
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This story comes from our news partner ABC13 Houston.
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