Sinkhole appears in downtown Danbury

Danbury police officers stand near a sinkhole that opened Wednesday on Franklin Street. Danbury police officers stand near a sinkhole that opened Wednesday on Franklin Street. Photo: Contributed Photo Photo: Contributed Photo Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Sinkhole appears in downtown Danbury 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

DANBURY — Franklin Street in the city’s downtown was closed for much of Wednesday while crews repaired a sinkhole in the road.

While authorities received a call Wednesday morning about a large pothole on Franklin near its intersection with Main Street, crews quickly determined the hole was caused by a broken water pipe.

The sinkhole was more than 3 feet wide and filled with water.

Antonio Iadarola, the city’s public works director, said a small service line appeared to be leaking and eventually undermined the soil beneath the road, creating the sinkhole.

Iadarola said he expected to pipe to be fixed and the road reopened by evening, but as of 9:40 p.m. a Danbury police dispatcher said the road remained closed and crews continued to work, adding there was no estimate on when the repairs would be complete.

While water from a leaking pipe typically breaks the surface fairly quickly, the soil under Franklin Street is particularly granular and allowed for the water to leak and drain from the area for a while, he said.

“It happens in the city once in a while but not too often,” Iadarola said. “That’s because the soil in Danbury isn’t typically the best for drainage, so when we do have a break, the water tends to come up through the surface fairly quickly and we can address the issue.”

Sinkholes, he said, can sometimes occur on state roads that use a concrete base beneath the asphalt including Main and South streets. While strengthening the road, the concrete acts much like a barrier that prevents the water from breaking the surface eroding the soil and underming the road.

However, because of the concrete base acting much like the substructure of a bridge, the sinkholes usually aren’t deep.

dperrefort@newstimes.com