Story highlights Site of jaw-dropping sinkhole reopened to road traffic after only days

Hole appeared after nearby subway construction thought to have caused subsidence

Tokyo (CNN) In the end, it disappeared almost as quickly as it had appeared.

A giant sinkhole which swallowed a chunk of road the length of a city block in the southwestern Japanese city of Fukuoka has been filled mere days after it appeared, a testament to Japanese engineering and efficiency.

After the sinkhole appeared on November 8, subcontractors worked around the clock to fill in the 30 meter (98 ft) wide, 15 meter (50 ft) deep hole by the 12th with a mixture of sand and cement. The job was complicated by the water which had seeped in from sewage pipes destroyed by collapsing sections of road.

After that it only took another 48 hours to reinstall all utilities -- electricity, water, sewage, gas and telecommunication lines -- and to resurface the road. There were no reports of injuries.

The gigantic sinkhole opened suddenly last week in Hakata ward in Fukuoka's business district, swallowing huge sections of road near underground work to extend a subway tunnel.

Read More