Dangerous sinkhole consuming South Philadelphia street now being fixed
SOUTH PHILADELPHIA - A South Philadelphia street has endured an ever-growing sinkhole, causing a nightmare for an entire for the residents on the block.
But, happily, work is now being done to fix the Pierce Street pit and neighbors are relieved and ready for the block to get back to normal.
"The next day, everything was here. The trucks, the cars. They dug it out," resident Theresa Banning said.
85-year-old Banning says just hours after she and her neighbors told FOX 29 News Friday night about their South Philly street that had been caving in more and more over the past three months, with no action after all their complaints.
Pierce Street resident Frank Quinn said, "The story aired Friday night and by 10 o’clock Saturday morning, we had the plates in place and city officials were down here and they were taking a look at the situation and now we’re back in business today."
Growing sinkhole consuming South Philly street; neighbors frustrated with city inaction
There is frustration in a South Philadelphia neighborhood where residents say their street is caving in from a sinkhole. Neighbors say the hole is growing and they want to know when it will be fixed.
The steel plates, a temporary fix in order to reopen the street safely, were lifted Tuesday to fill the sinkhole with dirt and blacktop, right where residents have been watching and recording city trash trucks driving around the cave in, up on their sidewalk and, they feared, doing even more damage with each pass of the heavy garbage trucks each week.
"They just kept making the damages worse," Quinn remarked. "Putting the weight of the truck on people’s private property. This is a block that has a lot of older people on it. So they were struggling to get their groceries, their deliveries. It was just very difficult in general to get their trash to the corners to avoid the trash trucks from coming down the street."
"What’s it like to have your street back?" asked FOX 29’s Steve Keeley.
"It’s nice that we can drive up it, walk up it, without worrying about falling into the hole there," homeowner Phyllis Quinn answered.
Banning said, "I’m happy. I’m happy that I’ll be able to park here."
Keeley asked, "Is it sad that it takes a tv story to get something done after three months?"
"Yes, yes definitely. We’re paying a lot of taxes and they’re going up. We just got our letter, so I’m glad they’re finally doing something," Phyllis Quinn replied.