Pittsburgh sinkhole that swallowed a bus could take months to repair

City officials believe it will take several more months to repair utility lines on Pittsburgh’s 10th Street that were damaged when a sinkhole opened up in October and swallowed a bus.

Karina Ricks, director of the city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, said the mishap damaged multiple utility lines that must be repaired before the crews can fill the hole and repave the street.

She said Duquesne Light, the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority and telecommunications companies have nearly finished repairs to their lines. The city is now waiting on Pittsburgh Allegheny County Thermal LTD, which supplies steam heat to Downtown buildings, to repair its equipment, she said.

“PACT needs to finish their engineering to understand exactly how they’re going to complete their work,” Ricks said. “We’ll know more in the next week or two as far as how and where they’re going to be able to run their lines. We’re still looking at a couple months.”

The street collapsed on Oct. 28 between Penn and Liberty avenues as a Port Authority bus was waiting to cross Penn. The rear wheels of the 14-ton bus fell into the hole, along with the front tires of a car that was waiting behind the bus.

Ricks said water washed away soil supporting the street, but officials have not determined the exact source of water. The weight of the bus smashed sewer and water lines, making it impossible to determine whether the lines were leaking beforehand.

“We don’t know what happened first. There are lots of utilities underneath that street and there’s multiple potential causes,” Ricks said. “It’s hard to know with certainty. You can’t really see what’s happening underneath the streets. We and all the rest of the utilities will do as much forensics as we can on the site, but I feel certain we will never know exactly what happened under there.”

She is certain that no water is leaking in the area of the hole.

“We feel confident that the issue that caused this is fixed,” she said. “Could it happen in other places? Maybe. It would be pretty unusual, but again, old city old streets. You really can’t see what’s happening underneath.”