Downtown Windsor sinkhole likely a 'water main issue,' but no firm cause yet: city

A sinkhole in downtown Windsor was likely a "water main issue," a city official says.

However, the city says it hasn't identified a firm cause yet.

The portion of the road collapsed Monday around 5:30 p.m. ET at the intersection of University Avenue West at Church Street.

The area has since been closed to traffic as crews work to make repairs.

Thecity originally said it hoped to have it fixed, with the area reopened to traffic, by Tuesday morning.

Now, it says the areawill remain closed until at least 5 p.m. Wednesday.

WATCH |Sinkhole closes downtown Windsor intersection:

Sinkhole closes downtown Windsor intersection

6 months ago

Duration 0:43

The City of Windsor says the intersection of University Avenue and Church Street will be closed until at least Tuesday morning because of a sinkhole. The sinkhole is pending more assessment, the city says, and drivers are asked to take alternate routes.

Grace Oyeyi is an assistant professor in the University of Windsor's civil and environmental engineering department.

She says that when sinkholes appear, it means there's been a "void" of some kind under the pavement.

"Which might have been caused by a number of reasons, for instance, some heavy rainfall eroding the material over time, if that erosion continues and we begin to see that there is a formation of a void," she said."We have a loss of support there we cave in and so we have a hole in the pavement."

That water flow could also be coming from a broken water main, she said, where the constant flow and pressure of the water could speed up the erosion.

Oyeyi says there is technology that can be used to help detect these voids under the pavement, like ground-penetrating radar.

And to get it fixed, she says the first step is determining the root cause of the sinkhole.

"When that is done, measures are taken to stabilize the areas around the sinkhole. And then we could start thinking of potential solutions such as filling up the area."

'One of Windsor's larger potholes'

Residents in the downtown core on Tuesday remarked on the size of the pothole, and say they're glad there wasn't a larger vehicle, like a bus, in the area at the time.

"It's all patches on patches," said Ray Blondinof the road. "It's one of Windsor's larger potholes."

Robert Cameron said he was "sort of surprised" by seeing the reports on social media about the sinkhole.

"The roads are so bad in Windsor,I'm actually kind of shocked it hasn't happened sooner, and I'm surprised it's not deeper than what it is. So I guess they were lucky."