DAVENPORT, Iowa — Davenport city officials now say broken sewer and water lines were the cause of a large sinkhole that appeared on E Locust St.
The sinkhole was first reported on Saturday morning, and after an investigation, crews now say four broken sewer laterals and two lead water service lines have been discovered.
Davenport says they've already investigated about a third of the area, but will still need to work through the other sections in phases, making repairs as needed. Water flowing from the broken lines has made the investigation difficult, according to the city's press release.
"The traveling public will need to be patient. Detours are likely to be in place through early to mid-July," read the city's statement.
It's a problem that's not only shut down traffic on one of Davenport's busiest streets, but also caused water issues for neighboring homeowners. One house finally got water service restored on Wednesday afternoon, after going without since Saturday. Another property has been without water for nearly a week, with no signs of when it will return, another neighbor told News 8.
According to one renter, they noticed the water had been shut off days before the sinkhole even appeared, but by the time a plumber was able to get out and investigate the cause, all of the backed-up water helped create the sinkhole.
"We're always working, having construction out here every summer. And then something like this happens... I don't know why. I don't know how. It is frustrating," said neighbor Nathan Kautz, who has lived on the street for about ten years. "I'm happy that no one got hurt. But now we have sinkholes on top of the hill not even by a body of water. Pretty sad."
Kautz also said the traffic reroutes have caused concern for other neighbors, who are now dealing with cars along side streets and through alleyways.
"It's dangerous now because the traffic- we've got 30 mph people driving cars down alleys super fast try to get to work," he said.
But Davenport's aging infrastructure is not a new topic for residents. Fifth Ward Alderman Matt Dohrmann says this instance in particular is especially frustrating for all those involved because the work to repair must now be reactionary instead of strategic.
"We don't want the sinkhole to be there, and we wish Locust was open," he said. "We're trying our best to get it replaced and get it back open. Because we know that is a very important connector for our entire city and really region."
The city's new fiscal year budget begins July 1, and Dohrmann says infrastructure spending was at the top of the council's mind.
"Of the $46 million or so of our capital budget that we have, we have $15 million roughly committed to our streets and then another $18 million committed to our sewers," he said. "But if you look at the bigger picture - how many square miles we have here in the city and the dollars associated with fixing that and replacing it, the $15 million and $18 million really is only a drop in the bucket."
He says in the current fiscal year - beginning July 1 - that particular spending will be focused on pipe replacement projects, including fixing distribution lines in Davenport's larger corridors that travel out to the wastewater treatment plant. There's also money going to the so-called 1930 scepter by the river front - an old sewer line near Prospect Park that was built into the limestone, causing water runoff and seepage.
"We're focused, really, on replacing those main connectors," explained Dohrmann. "So that we would hope to avoid something like this where we'd have a large failure that would take out quite a bit of people or shut down a major thoroughfare."
He says while Davenport will be getting nearly $41 million dollars in American Rescue Plan funding (the federal government's Covid relief money), most of that will not be going to infrastructure.
Dohrmann says most infrastructure spending didn't fit under the guidelines of the funding, which is meant to help with business recovery or economic recovery. He says the council is also hopeful more sewer and street money can come with President Biden's infrastructure package.
Davenport has not officially announced how it will spend that $41 million of ARP money, but tentative plans would give $14 million to the West Locust sewer project and about $4 million would be allocated towards sewer work that could alleviate any future floods.