A stubborn sinkhole on the 200 block of Church Street in Philadelphia’s Old City has been sitting open since it appeared around Christmas, cutting into deliveries and clogging pedestrian access on one of the neighborhood’s tightest corridors. Neighbors and small businesses say city crews have shown up for spurts of overnight work, but the site is still ringed with cones and plywood instead of fresh pavement.
Residents and shop owners say the crater has turned routine tasks into a headache, according to CBS Philadelphia. “Obviously it makes it harder to walk across, do deliveries, trash pickup,” Mittul Patel, general manager of Old City Coffee, told the station. A resident also told CBS that the block briefly lost water on Christmas Day, though service was restored later that day.
City response and how to report a main break
According to the Philadelphia Water Department, residents should report water main breaks and other water emergencies to its hotline at (215) 685-6300. The department notes that most service interruptions are repaired within six to eight hours, although permanent street restoration falls to the Department of Streets. The agency explains that crews first isolate leaks, then coordinate with PA One Call to mark underground utilities before scheduling repairs. For customers who lost water during earlier work, PWD advises flushing household pipes and clearing faucet screens once service comes back.
Part of a winter of failures
The Church Street sinkhole is one piece of a rough winter for Philadelphia’s aging water system, as freezing temperatures hit cast-iron mains across the city. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that PWD fielded roughly 147 water main breaks in January alone, a clip that officials say strains crews and can stretch out repair timelines. A major West Oak Lane sinkhole in January left dozens of residents without water, as reported by Fox29. Earlier this month, a street collapse in Manayunk was traced to a broken sanitary sewer lateral, according to CBS Philadelphia.
What residents and businesses want
On Church Street, shop owners and neighbors say they want a clear repair schedule and worry about what a yawning hole in the street signals to visitors as tourism picks up. Many would like to see a permanent fix before the summer season so delivery trucks, trash collection and casual foot traffic can return to normal. The Philadelphia Water Department says the hotline is still the quickest way to report an active leak, and residents who discover pavement collapses can also submit a Philly 311 service request for follow-up.
