A water main break near 37th Street opened a sinkhole in the middle lane of southbound Southwest Trafficway on Thursday afternoon, and crews are asking drivers to treat that stretch as optional.
KC Water has found the leak and is isolating and repairing the damaged main as quickly as it can, The Kansas City Star reported. KCTV5 said the city still cannot say how long the closed lanes will stay closed.
One Lane Through a Work Zone
The middle and right southbound lanes are shut. The left lane is still open, which keeps some traffic moving but leaves a busy road squeezed into a single file past the hole.
Crews closed those two lanes for safety while engineers assess the damage and the repair begins. KC Water asked motorists to avoid Southwest Trafficway if they can, pick another route, and expect delays if this is the only way through. The repair clock, the department said, is still under evaluation.
The Second Hole on This Road
Thursday's sinkhole is not the first time Southwest Trafficway has lost pavement this year. KCTV5 reported the new hole sits about six blocks south of a separate sinkhole that opened on the same road in August.
The morning break near 37th is its own job: a water main leak in the southbound lanes, two lanes taken for the repair, and no finish time attached to the warning. The August collapse was a separate hole farther north on the same corridor.
Old Miles, a Thinner Repair Bench
The hole also sits on a network KC Water has been trying to make less breakable. In remarks reported by KSHB, the department said the city has more than 2,800 miles of water line, including more than 476 miles that are over 100 years old.
That account put yearly water main breaks at about 1,800 a decade earlier and about 700 to 800 more recently, after 250 miles of line were replaced at roughly 25 miles a year. At that pace, cycling out only the century-old mileage would take about 19 years. Those figures are about the citywide network, not a readout on Thursday's break.
Labor is the other limit the department has described. The repair team was halved, down 56 workers, because finding people has been difficult, and that shortfall means not every broken line can be fixed in a day. The director described a general two-part process: separate crews return later to restore streets after pipe work is done.
Skip It If You Can
For Thursday, the practical map is simple. The closure is southbound Southwest Trafficway near 37th Street. One lane is carrying cars. Two lanes are a work zone.
KC Water's request is to leave that block alone until the street reopens.
