This past Saturday evening, another sinkhole formed on Burger Avenue in Lyttelton, Gauteng, engulfing a huge portion of the road in the process and damaging at least two properties.
Initially, it was a small sinkhole barely a metre in diameter, though by Monday morning, it had grown to cover nearly the entire road, residents in the area told TopAuto.
The municipality has since cut water supply to the area as the sinkhole broke an underground pipe and quickly filled up, and one resident also said they were sitting without electricity, though he didn’t clarify whether this was due to load-shedding or the sinkhole.
A section of the road has been cordoned off to avoid putting motorists in harm’s way, as it’s unclear when or where the sinkhole will stop growing.
Centurion’s sinkhole epidemic
The Centurion/Lyttelton/Valhalla region of Gauteng is especially susceptible to sinkholes as they are on top of large areas of dolomite rock, which evaporates over time when it comes into persistent contact with water.
While it is impossible to completely sidestep the mineral when erecting infrastructure, there are methods in place to avoid building roads in accident-prone areas as well as to repair the disasters as soon as they happen.
In the planning phase of a new route, the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) first performs a process called “ground-penetrating radar” to scan for dolomite and cavities to find the best possible path.
If the rock is present and unavoidable, Sanral said it relies upon “other solutions” to keep road goers safe.
One of these is installing underground concrete pillars at the onset of a project in an affected area to reduce the risk of sinkholes damaging the finished structure later on.
If the unavoidable happens, though, the agency said that the size of the sinkhole will determine the type of reparations.
A small cavity can be filled with rocks and compacted, but larger ones need more extensive restitutions such as building a reinforced concrete slab above the cavity that would allow a road to be laid on top.
Source: Scielo
Things are not looking good
With more and more sinkholes forming in the region, road authorities have more on their plate than ever before, and they now also have less money to go around with.
Speaking to Rekord, Centurion ward councilor Gert Visser said that the budget for sinkhole repairs in the Tshwane area was slashed by 50% in May, from R30 million per year to R15 million.
However, according to Visser, the real amount needed to repair all of the sinkholes is around R90 million, six times more than what is available.
This has led to many delays in getting rid of these dangerous hazards, with TopAuto being aware of seven sinkholes in the greater Centurion area, and being notified of at least six more by residents.
One of these has been repaired through a private initiative, in which the Irene Landowners Association raised over R470,000 to fill up a sinkhole that formed on an important thoroughfare that carries over 20,000 commuters a day.
Before and after. Main Road, Irene sinkhole
The rest, however, were left to their own devices.
On the N1 freeway near the Flying Saucer Interchange on the outskirts of Centurion, a massive sinkhole appeared in January 2022 which led to the closure of one of the lanes, with the projected repair date being no earlier than April 2024 – 26 months after it appeared – Sanral confirmed.
On John Vorster Road, one of the busiest streets in Centurion with two dual carriageways, another sinkhole popped up in April 2022, which the authorities responded to by building a “crossover” from one road into the oncoming road in order to sidestep the sinkhole completely, effectively turning both roads into single lanes for around 200 metres.
This reparation took well over a year and didn’t address the sinkhole itself, which has slowly but steadily been growing during this time. The relevant roads authority also did not respond to emails asking why it chose to build a crossover instead of fixing the sinkhole, which was relatively small in comparison to the others when it initially formed.
John Vorster Road, Centurion sinkhole. June 2023
With morbid curiosity, TopAuto visited the site of the newest Lyttelton sinkhole to see the extent of the damages and to talk to the first responders, i.e. the people living there.
Mostly, they said they are concerned about when their water and electricity will be restored, and if the sinkhole will ever be repaired, pointing to the many examples of similar issues all around them which have yet to be addressed despite being present and well-documented for years.
Fortunately, no one has been hurt during the terrifying ordeal.
Burger Ave, Lyttelton sinkhole
Keyword: Tshwane’s sinkhole problem is growing – Repair budget cut by 50%