Massive sinkhole in Pittsburgh’s East End to be repaired

PITTSBURGH — Four months and two companies later, a gaping sinkhole is finally being repaired in an East End neighborhood.

“It was like our saviors have come,” said Kipp Dawson, a resident on East End Avenue.

Dawson told Channel 11 News that seven days ago, a new company finally began to make repairs to a 20-foot sinkhole that had nearly taken over her entire block for several months.

“It started with a homeowner and then realized neighbors were also involved. Four homeowners had water backup in their basements,” said Dawson.

Dawson said the issues all began when her neighbor tried to stop sewage water from coming into their basement, only to find out the problem was much bigger.

“It started out as a sinkhole which collapsed, then all the laterals broke for their sewer lines,” said Kenny Kearns of Independent Enterprises, the new contractors on the project.

The four homes with broken sewage lines caused not only an inconvenience to drivers, but posed a danger to homeowners.

“It’s been since August that our street has not been accessible. The original company found the project to be beyond their ability,” said Dawson.

The sewage lines are more than 20 feet below the road, which means a time-consuming and extremely costly repair.

“Homeowners are bearing the burden of this because in our city, individual homeowners are responsible for everything to the main sewer line,” explained Dawson.

Dawson said while she is grateful her neighbors paid for repairs, the fact that the city made individual homeowners pay for aging infrastructure doesn’t seem fair to her.

She and her neighbors took their concerns to the city council and spoke with Councilman Ricky Burgess, who represents the neighborhood.

“The infrastructure in this city is old and has not been looked at. We need to have some kind of collective, open responsibility on the part of the city,” said Dawson.

Community leaders plan to meet with Burgess again in the upcoming weeks to find a better resolution and prioritize making repairs before something like this happens again.

Crews estimate that they should be able to have the project done by the end of the week if the weather holds up.

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