By Solly Maphumulo, Noor-Jehan Yoro Badat and Louise Flanagan
Natalie du Plessis was about to drive into Oxford Road in Riviera when the road collapsed in front of her.
A lamppost collapsed as water gushed out. Soon there was a hole about 12m long, taking out half of the roadway, the adjoining pavement and a garden wall.
"I was petrified. This is a road I drive through every day. It was shocking looking at the road I use collapsing," said Du Plessis.
A bystander said a car parked off the road in an office park had to be towed from the hole.
The road cave-in, between 8th and North avenues, is believed to be linked to construction of the Gautrain tunnel, which runs beneath Oxford Road.
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The tunnel-boring machine is in the same section of Oxford Road, working about 12m below ground.
The hole was about 3m deep and rapidly filled with water. It appeared to be a surface collapse, not damaging the tunnel itself.
Nobody was injured or trapped in the incident.
Bombela Civils Joint Venture environmental manager Etienne van der Lith said they identified poor geology in the vicinity at 11am on Tuesday and closed the road to ensure nobody was at risk.
The road collapse started at about 1.15pm.
Van der Lith said a water pipe had broken, gushing water.
"The engineers will look at the hole once the water has stopped and determine the extent of the damage."
He said the ground was still unstable and would be monitored. The road will be closed for up to a fortnight.
On Tuesday afternoon Oxford Road was cordoned off between 8th Avenue and Riviera Road, causing a rush-hour traffic build-up.
Alain Truyts, the province's resident Gautrain engineer, said it was difficult to say what caused the collapse until a geotechnical investigation had been done.
"But some speculation as to why it happened would logically indicate that there was an abrupt change in the geological conditions," said Truyts.
He said they were at the end of their maintenance shift and were about to start up the tunnel-boring machine when the collapse occurred about 1.15pm.
"It occurred just behind the face of the machine, which is about 1 670m away from where it starts in Rosebank," he said.
Truyts said it was "now a question of backfilling the hole, restarting the machine, stabilising and ensuring that the area around the hole on the road is sound again".
Tunnelling would resume following the outcome of their geotechnical investigation, which could take several weeks, he said.
City of Joburg emergency personnel rushed to the scene. Two fire engines and a fire department heavy rescue unit vehicle blocked off the road, along with an ambulance and Joburg metro police vehicles.
Joburg Water, City Power and Egoli Gas staff were at the scene.
"We've lost the water main, we've lost the overhead lines. There's a pole inside the hole," said one council official.
Bombela brought in a massive crane to start repairs and pumped water out of the hole.
At about 6pm Bombela started pouring gravel into the hole to stabilise it.
Bombela would not say anything about the cause or what was being done about it.
"We are assessing the situation and taking the necessary measures to reopen the road as soon as possible," said Bombela TKC construction director Chris Andrews from the scene.
"We are working through the night to try to assess the situation and decide on a course of action as quickly as possible."
Last night Bombela concession development manager Peter Erasmus confirmed that tunnelling had been halted and would start again after assessments were completed.
He said there had been no reports of any damage to the tunnel.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on July 09, 2008
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