QUESTION: Is the city of Burlington doing anything to repair a sinkhole that emerged a year ago along Park Road Extension?
ANSWER: It may be tempting to think that officials in Burlington are merely digging themselves into an ever-deeper hole when they insist they’re addressing the sunken pavement that has bedeviled Park Road Extension for the better part of a year.
Yet, members of Burlington’s city staff are adamant that they have made considerable progress in redressing this problem even if, at the moment, there’s little to show for their efforts along this small city street, which skirts the railroad track at the edge of Burlington’s Glen Raven neighborhood.
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Photos of Sinkhole and Road Closure on Park Road Extension
According to the city’s own account of this case, the sinkhole has been on the municipality’s to-do list ever since it first surfaced in a resident’s yard in May of 2024. The subterranean hollow has since spread to the roadway itself, causing the pavement to buckle and break. As a result, the city has erected barricades on either side of the affected area and, as an added precaution, it has prohibited pass-through traffic along the entirety of Park Road Extension.
Within a few months of the sinkhole’s appearance, the patience of residents was already beginning to fray over the city’s apparently sluggish response to the problem. These complaints eventually reached the ear of Burlington’s mayor Jim Butler, who asked the town’s staff for an update on the sinkhole this past September. Shortly thereafter, Celo Faucette, the city’s retired mayor pro tem, made a rare return appearance to Burlington’s city hall to complain about the tumult along his own road in the Glen Raven area – which now serves as a detour for Park Road Extension.
In the wake of these public reprimands, Burlington’s city staff has held neighborhood meetings with residents who live near the sinkhole. They’ve also released periodic updates about the project’s status – the latest of which was released on Tuesday.
John Vernon, a public information specialist for the city, told The Alamance News that municipal staff members have recently learned a great deal about the sinkhole thanks to the use of ground penetrating radar. Vernon added that a contractor in the city’s hire relied on this state-of-the-art technique to obtain a clearer picture of the decades-old stormwater conduit that’s responsible for the sinkhole’s emergence.
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“The stormwater pipe is partially collapsed and filled in with silt,” Vernon explained in an interview on Tuesday afternoon, “It is over 100 years old and not on any city documents…it is also unusually deep – between 15 and 30 feet below ground – and there’s a sanitary sewer line running above it.”
Vernon added that the eventual repair of the deteriorated stormwater pipe will be further complicated by the proximity of Park Road Extension to Webb Avenue and the North Carolina Railroad – which are both under the auspices of the N.C. Department of Transportation.
In spite of these challenges, the public information specialist insists that the city has every intention of repairing the sinkhole.
According to Vernon’s latest update to residents, the city has already commissioned a civil engineering firm to develop “repair and replacement plan” for the affected area. This plan will not only address the damaged stormwater conduit but, according to Vernon’s update, will also shore up or relocate the intervening sewer line while shifting a nearby manhole.
“A separate contractor is being hired to ensure that the other [undamaged] sections of the stormwater
pipe…are cleaned out and prepared to handle the volume of stormwater after the repair,” the update continues. “The outfall of that pipe is silted up and will be excavated so the water has somewhere to flow [which will require] access easements from affected property owners.”
Vernon noted that the information gleaned from ground penetrating radar will enable the city and its contractors to figure out how to tackle this project. In the meantime, he conceded that Park Road Extension will remain closed off to traffic for the duration of this work.
“Once the sinkhole is repaired,” the update concludes, “the road will be repaved and reopened.”
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