Part of Kentucky Street will remain blocked at least through the weekend and maybe longer as repairs to a sanitary sewer line continue.

That means at least a few more days of inconvenience for some Lawrence drivers.

“Getting out of here will be interesting,” said Dawn Davis, during a stop just after 5 p.m. Thursday at the drive-through ATM at Douglas County Bank, 300 W. Ninth St.

Davis, her husband, Blake, and their children came from North Lawrence. To head home, they took the detour and turned back south on Tennessee Street and prepared to turn west on Ninth Street to catch the first road, likely Vermont Street, to the north.

City crews have closed the 800 block of Kentucky Street and Eighth Street from Vermont to Tennessee streets while they work to replace the sewer line that collapsed.

A small sinkhole – about the size of a cup – was discovered in the road on Tuesday, said Dave Wagner, the city’s assistant director of utilities.

A cyclist is the only traffic able to pass through the closed intersection at 8th and Kentucky where work continues on a large sinkhole. The sinkhole opened up Tuesday afternoon and has closed traffic on 8th Street between Tennessee and Kentucky and on Kentucky from 9th Street to 7th Street.

The sewer line, which is made of clay, was constructed in the 1930s. It still functions even after part of it collapsed, but plans call for workers to lay down a new sewer line in its place, Wagner said.

City crews and other contractors also are checking for damage to other pipes in the area, including water lines, but they have found none so far.

Utility services to area homes have gone uninterrupted.

The Lawrence Transit System is also rerouting bus routes Nos. 3, 4 and 6 counterclockwise. Riders normally boarding the bus on Kentucky Street behind the library or on Eighth Street should move north of Seventh Street to catch the bus.