Some lanes on South University Avenue are closed because of problems in the pavement, which the city said is because of settlement problems.
“Our street department noticed it in the first part of May, and it appeared to be just a pavement failure, took a look, and saw it was more than just a simple pavement failure,” Mike Keenum, City Engineer, said.
Keenum said the problem shouldn’t spread beyond the two lanes of traffic that are already currently closed to drivers.
The problem area stretches from about 91st Street to about 95th Street.
Keenum said the city has a contractor ready to come in, but because of rain in the forecast for the last few weeks, they opted to wait until the forecast cleared up.
“Best we can tell, it’s a compaction issue with a trench on the storm sewer pipe that went in with the south Lubbock project back in 2009,” Keenum said.
For some people in the area, it’s been a little unnerving to watch as the road sunk deeper and deeper over the last few weeks.
“I thought at any moment, there could be a sinkhole that could open up and swallow my Jeep whole,” Natalie Roseberry, who lives nearby, said.
The city said those lanes could be closed for a few more weeks as the work continues.
