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State Route 235 may be reopened Saturday morning as Ohio Department of Transportation crews continue work on a sinkhole at the north intersection with County Road 255.
ODOT’s Logan County Transportation Manager Ryan Conrad said his team opened up the roadway and found a hole measuring more than five feet wide, six feet deep and 15 feet long under the surface.
That is about 30 tons of soil and road foundation washed away over time.
“This (erosion) has been happening for quite a while,” he said. “We’re fortunate the Riverside school bus driver had enough sense to call it in. Otherwise, we might not have found it until the road collapsed completely.
“It was absolutely instrumental in us finding the problem.”
He said heat from the recent warm weather most likely softened the black top asphalt. The initial hole of no more than 12 inches in diameter appeared in the northbound lane, providing a view of the damage below.
Thursday ODOT crews excavated the site, pulled the damaged 15-inch pipe and replaced it with an 18-inch pipe.
It appears a utility company’s underground boring project damaged the old pipe. Conrad does not know when it occurred, but a small hole can start an erosion process that increases over time.
ODOT crews have backfilled the site, compressing the material as they go.
Conrad said the site should be ready for a concrete pour today.