Anchorage

Sinkhole strands delivery truck in Anchorage alley

A sinkhole temporarily stranded a delivery truck in a downtown Anchorage alleyway Thursday afternoon, forcing the municipality to shut down G Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues as a tow truck maneuvered to pull it out.

The sinkhole was caused by work on the sewer line completed early last week, Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility spokesperson Chris Kosinski said. The work destabilized the alley more than they realized.

On Thursday afternoon, the Specialty Imports delivery truck was stuck lopsided, its back right tire suspended above the sinkhole that appeared to be about 3 feet across and 3 feet deep.

Delivery driver Joseph Tindall said he was backing into the alleyway next to the Darwin's Theory bar on Thursday afternoon when his truck suddenly tipped to the side.

"I was sitting level and suddenly it pitched like 15 degrees to the right," Tindall said. "I had no idea what the hell had happened."

Customers inside Darwin's Theory all moved to the south side of the bar, away from where the truck leaned toward the bar's outside wall. About a dozen people watched, drinks in hand, as workers bustled around outside.

"I suggested everybody move to this side," bartender Cindy Menichetti said, wary that the truck could slip farther toward the building.

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Early last week, AWWU contracted with Construction Unlimited Inc. to work on the sewer line, Kosinksi said. Workers excavated part of the alley, and a vactor -- essentially a truck designed to be a giant vacuum -- had sucked up debris under the alley.

"Apparently the vactor sucked more gravel than it should have," Kosinski said. "There was really no way to judge that at the time because you really couldn't see it."

The sinkhole was a direct result of that work, Kosinski said, "as best we can figure out."

The work on the sewer line had nothing to do with the new Anchorage Legislative Information Office being built one building down the alleyway, he said.

Public utilities beneath the alleyway had also undergone renovations this summer by Criterion General, the contractor building the new Legislative Information Office.

Criterion general foreman Jon Salgate said that after the company's work, the alleyway had been filled back up with dirt, and the company had driven on the alley for roughly a month without problems before covering the dirt with new blacktop.

"Our hands are clean of it," Salgate said.

The alley will be repaired early next week, Kosinski said, and is closed in the meantime. AWWU planned to backfill the hole Thursday evening to stabilize it. Nearby buildings sustained no damage, he said.

Laurel Andrews

Laurel Andrews was a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch News and Alaska Dispatch. She left the ADN in October 2018.

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