DENVER—Water from a broken pipeline gouged a 40-foot-wide sinkhole on Interstate 25 near downtown Thursday, shutting down northbound lanes of the busy thoroughfare during the afternoon rush and backing up traffic for 10 miles.
Transportation officials said it was unlikely the lanes would reopen in time for the Friday morning rush and were working on a plan to reroute traffic.
No vehicles fell into the 16-foot-deep hole, which opened just north of downtown at about 3 p.m.
Southbound lanes remained open, but northbound traffic had to squeeze into a two-lane High Occupancy Vehicle corridor running past the sinkhole, or navigate jammed city streets.
The backup on I-25 had disappeared by 7:30 p.m., Colorado Department of Transportation spokesman Joe Tucker said.
The water-filled crater spanned three traffic lanes and the right shoulder, authorities said. They were not certain if the damage extended beneath any of the other northbound lanes.
The sinkhole was carved out by about 2 million gallons of water gushing from a break in a 66-inch-diameter conduit, the Denver water department said.
The break was likely caused by a pressure surge, water department spokeswoman Stacy Chesney said. The leak reduced water pressure for some customers but no one lost service, she said.
Chesney said utility crews hoped to have the conduit patched before the Friday morning rush.
Department of Transportation spokeswoman Mindy Crane said contractors were ready to start road repairs but were waiting for water crews to finish.
“It’s not likely that we’re going to have it open by rush hour,” she said.
Daily traffic in both directions where the break occurred averages up to 199,000 vehicles, Crane said.
A similar sinkhole on Interstate 70 near Vail in 2003 took 11 days to fix.
