NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans is used to potholes, but what’s at the intersection of Ursulines Avenue and Chartres Street is a bit more than the regular pothole.
It’s more of a sinkhole, and it has people disappointed but not surprised.
“It’s so New Orleans, it’s so perfectly New Orleans,” Shane Hachey, who used to live on the street, said.
Hachey was back visiting. He said with all of the potholes he endured while living there, he had never seen something like this.
“(Living here) was a lot of potholes tearing up my car. Never know what to expect, coming around the corner one day you might have a new pothole,” Hachey said. “(The sinkhole is) really impressive. It’s the biggest pothole I’ve ever seen, even in New Orleans.”
We measured the hole, and it’s about 10 feet wide and almost 6 feet deep.
Leah Levkowicz works a few feet away from the massive pit and said the hole started as a normal sized pothole about a week ago.
“We did see barrels and tape already around, but it was only a hole about a foot and a half wide and as we walked up to it we could see gravel falling down into the hole and then there was I think a line of blue spray paint around it the next day,” Levkowicz said.
According to Sewerage and Water Board, they opened the street because of a depression. They say they found two issues, a sewer issue, which they say has been repaired, and an 18-inch drain line that needs to be fixed. SWB said the Department of Public Works will repair the line before closing the street.
According to the city, they have hired an outside company to do the work. They hope to get the project started by Mon. June 12 at the latest, but are not sure when it will be complete.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.