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Is 3300 block of Fulton slipping away? Second sinkhole appears

Another sinkhole appeared on the 3300 block of Fulton between 9th and 10th Avenues last week, this time taking a fire hydrant with it (and ironically, creating a new parking space).

Early last week, a hole formed near the base of the fire hydrant near the corner of 9th Avenue and Fulton and as of yesterday, it had expanded and completely swallowed up the hydrant. It has been reported to 311 and cones from the SF Water Department have been positioned near it.

This is the second sinkhole on the block in the past couple of months. The first appeared in early October in the roadway and stopped a SUV in its tracks.

Resident Jim M., who lives on the block, says he’s concerned there’s something more serious happening under the street.

“What I’m worried about is the connection between the two incidents, there’s something else going on. I’m not convinced the city is solving the bigger problem of why there are two sinkholes within 20 yards of each other within 2 months,” he said.

In fall 2011, the city embarked on a year long upgrade project to the 5 Fulton bus line, which put the electrical feeder cables that power the trolley buses for the route underground. The year long project concluded earlier this spring, and required construction work on Fulton from 32nd Avenue to 8th Avenue. Much of that work was digging trenches under the roadway to make room for the wiring.

Whether these sinkholes are related to the upgrade project work remains to be seen, but let’s hope that DPW digs a little deeper to find out what’s going on.

Sarah B.

7 Comments

  1. Seems like a lot of new potholes have formed around the neighborhood just recently. I assumed it had something to do with the heavy rains.

  2. Nothing to see here, just another example of what happens when 70% of the City’s available money goes to Health and Human Services. When Moscone was Mayor, H&HS got 34% of available funds.

  3. Sorry, DPW is too busy taking pictures of people’s houses and spray painting the sidewalk to notice that the streets are crumbling.

  4. Not surprising. The majority of the Richmond is built on sand. The recent heavy rains are washing it away from under the “hard shell” of the pavement above.

  5. @nancydrew99
    ‘Anyone see that movie “Tremors”?

    I LOVED the scene where one of the ‘Graboids’ bursts through the wall of Michael Gross and Reba Macintire’s (sp?) bunker!!! It was straight out of “MAD Magazine’s: Scenes We’d Like To See.”

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