Pittsburg — Transportation crews will be busy filling sinkholes near U.S. 69 bypass west of Pittsburg, each a remnant of the mining heritage of southeast Kansas.
Kansas Department of Transportation engineers had already found and scheduled work on one of the sinkholes when a second was discovered along a stretch of the highway. The department's Bob Gudgen said neither hole posed a threat to drivers.
The sinkholes are caused when ground above old coal mining shafts, which dotted the landscape in southeast Kansas in the late 1800s and early 1900s, collapses. The state will spend about $400,000 to fix each sinkhole, and the project should take about a month.
Department crews discovered the first depression near the highway in November. Drilling at the site confirmed a mine void located approximately 20 feet beneath the surface. The second hole is about one mile to the north.
Gudgen said crews weren't sure how large the voids were, but they need to be filled near where the highway intersects with Kansas 126. Traffic will be reduced to one lane on the two-lane road as a cement grout mixture is pumped in the holes.
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