AUSTIN (KXAN) — Along the northbound service road of MoPac, between Loop 360 and Spyglass Drive, a recurring sinkhole prompted a concerned viewer email to KXAN.
Vickie Klepper sent the photos below and shared her concern.
“There is and has been a sinkhole along MoPac northbound frontage road for at least two years near Bartons Bluff Lane,” Klepper said. “It is dangerous with a lack of signage and warnings. Today a car was traveling really fast and at the very last minute it changed lanes. If someone had been in the lane next to him he would have gone straight into the hole.”
KXAN reached out to the Texas Department of Transportation — which manages this type of issue along this section of MoPac — and we found out this is a recurring issue that TxDOT is aware of. TxDOT said it is working on a long term repair.
“We are developing plans to upgrade the drainage infrastructure in that area, which will address soil movement,” Bradley Wheelis, with the TxDOT Austin branch said.
After Vickie sent us the photos and we reached out to TxDOT, an electronic warning sign was added near the sinkhole, and it was filled.
Residents in Daisetta, a small town located northeast of Houston, have expressed concerns about a 900-foot-wide sinkhole in the town. It formed in 2008, but the ground was stable for years until recently.
If you see something in your community you want us to look into, email us at reportit@kxan.com