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Ruptured sewer line creates sink hole along Turlock street
sink hole 1
City of Turlock crews discovered a large sink hole on W. Tuolumne Road Thursday morning (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

City of Turlock crews have been working day and night to repair a corroded sewer line since it was discovered Thursday morning after the resulting leakage created a large sink hole on W. Tuolumne Road.

Tuolumne Road from North Golden State Boulevard to Tully Road has been closed to traffic since Thursday and is expected to remain closed until Dec. 13 as crews work to replace the broken sewer lines and then repair the roadway.

“We’re trying to do as much work as we can before the storms come in,” said Interim City Manager and Municipal Services Director Michael Cooke.

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Tuolumne Road is expected to be closed through Dec. 13 as crews work on repairing the ruptured sewer line and then patching the roadway (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

The sink hole is approximately 100 feet long by 40 feet wide. None of the nearby homes were affected by the rupture and resulting sink hole, according to Cooke.

When the sink hole was first discovered, the nearby train tracks were closed to rail traffic until it could be determined if it was safe. According to Cooke, the railroad tracks were found to not be affected by the sink hole and trains have resumed using the line.

Cooke said that the City has cameras monitoring the sewer lines, but they weren’t aware that this particular section of pipe was in such poor condition.

Once the 30 to 50 feet of sewer pipe line is replaced, the crews will work to repair the roadway. Cooke said the work will include a patch of 30 feet by 30 feet area of W. Tuolumne Road in order to get the roadway open as soon as possible for holiday shoppers, but in spring crews may go back and smooth out the road.

Cooke did not have an estimate as of Friday on the cost of repairing the ruptured sewer line and roadway, but said the funding will come from a non-General Fund account that is specifically used for emergency repairs to wastewater operations.