City checking Atlanta roads for failures to prevent future sinkholes

ATLANTA - Atlanta city officials say there are checks being done routinely to try to spot and correct road failure that could turn into a giant sinkhole. 

These sorts of checks may have come in handy for the unlucky driver who saw the front-half of his vehicle swallowed by a caved-in portion of Ponce de Leon in northeast Atlanta last month.

There were no injuries, but the road was shut down for days as water officials had to work deep into the hole to make the correction.

It was a rupture of a sewer pipe. This type of failure is more problematic than a water line burst. Water will show quickly, and rise to the top. 

Managers at the water department deploy ground-penetrating radar as part of the tests. They also can lower cameras to look underground.

"It is not an easy task, because there are some 1,600 lane miles all over the city," said Josh Rowan, the former chief of the Atlanta Transportation Department.

Rowan, who is an engineer, said citizens can help by reporting depressions they may see on their street. He said a depression may be the beginning of a sinkhole, especially if the erosion is around a manhole.