Repairs to Palatine sinkhole finally complete

Repairs to the rain-induced sinkhole at one of Palatine's busiest intersections originally were estimated to take between 10 and 14 days.

Nearly three months and $800,000 later, crews are wrapping up the work.

“The only thing left is marking the lanes first thing Saturday morning, which was delayed because of Thursday's rain,” said Sanjay Patel, plant manager of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago North Side facility in Skokie.

The news comes as great relief to commuters, who became all too familiar with traffic backups after Hicks Road was whittled down from five lanes to just two near Dundee Road for fear of a cave-in.

The roughly 15-by-20-foot sinkhole formed about 30 feet below the surface due to a collapsed sewer line. Officials attributed the failure to the July 23 storm that dumped 5.43 inches of rain over a three-hour period in Palatine, exceeding 100-year event standards.

The project took on a much broader scope than first anticipated after crews went in to do a spot repair and instead discovered 110 feet of the 40-year-old sewer pipe, which was 69 inches in diameter, needed to be replaced.

Final bills aren't in yet, but Patel estimates the total cost at about $775,000, most of which was labor by Sheridan Plumbing and Sewer in Burr Ridge. MWRD will pay 100 percent.

Patel, who said Palatine's was the largest sinkhole he'd ever seen, said the soil condition in the area also prolonged repairs. While installing a wooden support system to protect the construction workers, crews encountered a lot of sand and debris from earlier work. It wasn't until this week that crews could backfill the hole and begin installing new curbs.