Most cities have potholes.

Scranton also has subsidences - five of them since last week - some of which have been at least several feet deep.

Last week, three subsidences opened up in the Electric City's streets. Over the weekend, two more subsidences opened on Olive and Breck streets.

"It's a lot to happen at one time," said Jeff Brazil, Department of Public Works director. "I imagine we will have more this week with all the rain. It's a common occurrence."

Last week, DPW responded to subsidences in the intersections at Philo Street and Short Avenue and at Jefferson Avenue and Gibson Street, as well as in the 300 block of Kressler Court.

Now filled in with cement mixtures, some of the holes were between 8 and 10 feet deep with diameters several feet wide.

The void at Breck Street near Lavelle Court has been barricaded but not filled in and is being investigated by the state Department of Environmental Protection Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation, Mr. Brazil said.

A cause of the subsidences has not been formally determined, Mr. Brazil said, though an old steam vault was located beneath the Jefferson Avenue and Gibson Street subsidence. Another possibility in some cases, he suggested, was water runoff causing subsurface voids to expand and destabilize the surface.

Officials will return to the subsidences if the cement mixture collapses, but "I've never seen one collapse," Mr. Brazil said of the patches.

Mr. Brazil did not immediately know the cost of patching all of last week's subsidences, but said materials generally cost several hundred dollars at least. On Monday, for example, DPW filled in the Olive Street subsidence with a cement mixture costing $650.

DEP spokeswoman Colleen Stutzman said she did not have information immediately available on the Breck Court subsidence.

Contact the writer: jmrozinski@timesshamrock.com



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whats amazing most of the areas mentioned in the article were flushed. The one on Olive Street had a controled flushing project in the 70's. Just goes to show everyone in the area should have subsidence insurance.