PETERSBURG, Va. (WWBT) The sinkhole that has been a few months old that lies in Stuart Ave in Peterburg has become a glaring hazard that residents living on Stuart Avenue wish would just be fixed immediately.
“This is going on since the beginning of July,” said one neighbor. “I am begging them to resolve the problem. Don’t be a jerk. Make sure that taxpayers are treated fairly. Patch it up, dig it up. that holes … take action.”
Nearby neighbors who live near the sinkhole claim that the sinkhole first appeared during the summer, the workers tried to solve the problem using gravel to fill the sinkhole, and then covering the area with gravel, but this solution was quickly discarded because the hole continued to shrink and narrow.
In the last few months, residents claim that the city’s solution to this issue has been to put an old pallet of wood over the hole and surround it with cones. Since then, residents have said they’ve repeatedly complained to the city in an effort to solve this issue. However, claim that their requests have been ignored.
The hole has gotten so large that a large portion part of Stuart Avenue has become a one-way street. This has stopped motorists from parking on the other side which could block traffic.
“When you see other vehicles parking here it’s a problem for traffic,” a neighbor said. “All they have to do is walk out and take a look at it, then pave it and do their thing.”
Public Utilities said that the hole was created by the collapse of a portion of the sewer.
Although the city didn’t give a reason for why it took so long to address the issue, within a matter of minutes after NBC12 called Public Utilities, workers came out on Stuart Avenue to assess the hole.
But they didn’t define what could be done to fix the hole, or at what point.
“The most dangerous scenario is when somebody walks in and the car is a cave and it sucks the vehicle. Someone needs to get out and take action,” a neighbor said. “You’re talking about taxpaying citizens. Taxpayers don’t want in a septic tank that smells like raw sewage, with a hole in which you cannot even get out of your driveway.”
As of now the city hasn’t set a date on when residents can anticipate filling the gap.
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