Repair of Brackenridge sinkhole delayed until state funding comes through

Repair of a sinkhole on Roup Avenue in Brackenridge likely will have to wait until at least next month.

Borough officials say they’re waiting for state funding to pay for the $1 million project. They expected the money in September, but the state hasn’t approved projects for funding yet.

That isn’t sitting well with some nearby residents.

“It seems like you keep pushing this back month to month,” said Yvonne Hamm, whose home is near the sinkhole.

“This council is not pushing this project off,” Council President Tim Connelly said. “It’s the state. They can’t seem to get together and vote on who is getting what. You’re talking about a $1 million project.”

Hamm, who spoke at the latest borough council meeting, said she wanted it on the record about the delay in the event that “something happens” because of the sinkhole.

Borough Engineer Gordon Taylor said the sinkhole is the result of a leak or a break in a sewer line that was installed probably back in the early 1900s. Taylor said the hole is about 5 or 6 feet wide on the surface of the street and narrows as it extends about 25 feet below ground.

He said it is about 60 feet or so in from the intersection of Morgan Street and the 1000 block of Roup.

Connelly said the borough is waiting on approval of funding for the repair from the state. He said that was supposed to happen in September, but now borough officials have been told it won’t happen until January.

Taylor said grant money is pending from the state’s Local Share program and from the Department of Community and Economic Development’s Small Water and Sewer Program.

He said the hangup has been in getting final approval from the Commonwealth Financing Authority.

“We felt we would have it (funding) by September and we would be well underway by now,” Connelly said. “It’s a top priority. As soon as we get the approval, we’re going.”

Connelly said state Rep. Mandy Steele, D-Fox Chapel, and state Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-Natrona Heights, have been working to obtain the grants for the project.

Borough Manager Denise Tocco said the sinkhole appeared in March. She said the borough public works department tried to do at least a temporary repair by filling the hole with gravel but the leak washed that away also and borough officials ordered that nothing more be done until a permanent repair can be done.

Connelly and Taylor said occurrences such as the sinkhole have been happening over several decades in that part of the borough. They said it is because a ravine once existed there and became the route for a storm sewer line. Taylor said it was covered over and filled in through the years, and houses eventually were built over the sewer line.

The pipe for that line was made of clay, which becomes brittle over time, Taylor said. He said that causes breaks in the line, which washes away subsurface material and leads to the surface becoming undermined.

The remediation project will actually involve relocating the old sewer line and be done in three phases, which will cost even more than $1 million, he said.

The first phase, which itself will be $1 million, will take care of the problem along Roup and everything down the hill, he said. The second phase will take care of everything above Roup and take another $1 million while the third phase involves relocating the sewer to Morgan Street. Taylor said he is not sure how much money that will require.

Taylor said while PennVEST provides money for water and sewer line installation, it does not finance repair projects such as this, meaning the state money the borough is waiting for may be the only financing option.

Councilman John Stanzione said there really aren’t many grants available for it either, and the borough could not afford to pay for it through local funds.

“We would have to raise taxes double what they are to get the money to do this,” he said.

“I’m pretty confident that we’re going to get the money. It’s just a matter of the state voting on it,” Stanzione said.