The northbound lane of South Monaco Parkway near Cherry Creek is down to one lane in each direction this evening as Denver Water crews repair a ruptured 12-inch water main that left an 18-foot-wide sinkhole at East Arizona Avenue.
A handful of homes and a condominium complex are without water, but service should be restored by 10 p.m., the utility said.
Denver Water said repairs should be done by Friday morning’s rush hour. Crews still aren’t sure what caused the main to break, according to Denver Water.
Residents in the congested neighborhood east of Garland Park were largely unfazed.
“That’s life,” said Penny Wilkins, who lives in the French Quarter condominiums across the street from the gaping sinkhole. “We’re going to go to a movie and hope it’s all over before we try to go to bed.”
The family drinks delivered water, she said, “but I don’t really want to bathe in it,” she said.
Heavy machinery was making fast work of the job this afternoon, but the noise was a big distraction at a nearby tennis court.
“It sounds like they’re blowing up a building over there,” said Scott Morris, a nightshift worker at a Cherry Creek restaurant.
The blown pipe was spotted at about 1:30 p.m. today. By rush hour, the slow movement of cars past the sinkhole turned a normally busy commute into a crawl near Leetsdale Drive on the north and Cherry Creek Drive on the south.
“It’s always something,” said Brad Ridgeway, a delivery truck driver as he fumed at Leetsdale and Monaco.
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
