Sinkhole

A large sinkhole on East Monument Street near Johns Hopkins Hospital widened this weekend, potentially compromising sanitation lines to multiple homes and businesses along the street and causing their water to be shut off, according to city public works officials. Efforts to stabilize the street between North Bradford Street and North Montford Avenue and reopen it to foot traffic could take as many as nine days, officials said. Public works crews were working with residents and business owners Monday to "conduct pre-construction structural surveys and install vibration and settlement monitors" along the street that will "notify DPW if damage to surrounding buildings is occurring," the department said in a statement.

Repairs continued Monday to a water main break at Canton Industrial Park that had created a sinkhole over the weekend on South Newkirk Street, city Department of Public Works officials said. No one was injured and there was no property damage in Saturday's main break, which occurred when an underground pipe ruptured in the 1800 block of S. Newkirk St. near Holabird Avenue at 7:32 p.m. The main break spouted water into the air and caused a portion of the street to collapse, but the area has no homes and is used primarily by trucks, Department of Public Works spokeswoman Tiffani J. Church said Saturday.

Rescue workers say it took more than five hours to rescue a horse from a 12-foot sinkhole near Woodsboro. But Brooke Vrany of Days End Farm Horse Rescue in Lisbon said Tuesday the horse named Chief is doing fine despite his cold and muddy ordeal. The horse fell into a sinkhole that opened up Monday at a Creagerstown Road farm. Advanced technical rescue teams from Frederick and Carroll counties worked with area volunteer firefighters through much of the afternoon and early evening to get Chief out of the hole.

Nearly five months after a portion of East Monument Street collapsed in a gaping sinkhole, city officials reopened the street Wednesday afternoon, completing one of the city's largest underground utility repairs ever. "It's been a long and tough journey for the residents and business in this area," said Public Works Director Alfred H. Foxx, standing on freshly poured asphalt at a podium at the corner of Patterson Park Avenue, where officials unveiled an "Open for Business" sign on a lamppost.

A broken 10-inch-wide water main in Southwest Baltimore caused a sinkhole to open on Frederick Avenue near its intersection with East Lynne Avenue late Tuesday night, according to city officials. The water main was shut off quickly and Frederick Avenue was closed at the intersection, in the city's Mill Hill neighborhood, said Kurt Kocher, a public works spokesman. About 100 homes in the southwest neighborhood remained without water Wednesday, as crews arrived early to begin repairs to the pipe, he said.

Heavy rains that lashed central Maryland on Sunday forced a portion of East Monument Street to be evacuated after a large sinkhole in the road reopened and expanded, according to a city public works spokesman. Tons of gravel and recycled concrete that city crews had used to backfill the hole began washing away as an estimated 1 to 3 inches of rain fell, forcing emergency crews to once again evacuate the north side of the 2300 block of East Monument Street, said Kurt Kocher, the spokesman.

The State Highway Administration is studying geologists' recommendations to excavate and shore up the sinkhole on Route 31 that swallowed Robert W. Knight's van in March, fatally injuring the 24-year-old Taneytown man.The SHA also may excavate a smaller sinkhole that has caused road settling on Route 31 about 600 feet east of the accident site, said Douglas R. Rose, the SHA's district engineer.Mr. Rose said that he cannot give details about the project until he studies the SHA geologists' and soil specialists' recommendations, and that he does not know when the work could begin.

City officials on Wednesday removed orange construction cones and barrels from two blocks of East Monument Street that had been swallowed by a huge sinkhole this summer, unveiled an "Open for Business" sign on a lamppost and marked the end of a five-month, $7 million repair job. "It's just been completely devastating for the businesses here," said Kristina Williams, manager of East Monument Main Street, an organization run by the city, merchants and...

Nearly five months after a portion of East Monument Street collapsed in a gaping sinkhole, city officials reopened the street Wednesday afternoon, completing one of the city's largest underground utility repairs ever. "It's been a long and tough journey for the residents and business in this area," said Public Works Director Alfred H. Foxx, standing on freshly poured asphalt at a podium at the corner of Patterson Park Avenue, where officials unveiled an "Open for Business" sign on a lamppost.

A New Windsor activist came here Monday to find out why a House committee rejected a bill intended to protect nearby residents from potential mining damages.Linda S. Cunfer, a spokeswoman for the Statewide Coalition on Non-Coal Surface Mining, talked briefly with Environmental Matters Committee chairman Ronald A. Guns, D-Cecil, about the bill, which was defeated, 12-9."Some of those who voted against it certainly should have voted for it because they have constituents in the statewide coalition," said Cunfer, a leader of the New Windsor Community Action Project, whichmonitors mining issues in the Wakefield Valley.

City officials on Wednesday removed orange construction cones and barrels from two blocks of East Monument Street that had been swallowed by a huge sinkhole this summer, unveiled an "Open for Business" sign on a lamppost and marked the end of a five-month, $7 million repair job. "It's just been completely devastating for the businesses here," said Kristina Williams, manager of East Monument Main Street, an organization run by the city, merchants and...

For the third time since July, city public works crews have found a hole in a 120-year-old drainage culvert beneath East Monument Street near Johns Hopkins Hospital - another setback in a months-long effort to fix and reopen the road. The small hole opened early Thursday morning about 125 feet from where a much larger hole in the culvert caused a sinkhole to open July 25, officials said. Heavy rains caused that sinkhole to reopen and expand Aug. 26. The 10-foot-wide tunnel receives storm water from smaller drainage pipes from a large part of the city and carries it to the Baltimore Harbor.

WEATHER The National Weather Service is calling for Tuesday to be cloudy in the morning, with a high near 91 and northwest winds 6 to 11 miles per hour. There is a 60 percent chance of precipitation. Tuesday night is expected to be mostly clear, with a low around 73. TRAFFIC Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues as you plan your commute. FROM LAST NIGHT City school board reinstates fired city principal : The city school board reinstated a principal Monday night who had been fired by CEO Andrés Alonso over alleged cheating at her school.

A city road crew worked into Monday refilling a cavernous sinkhole on East Monument Street that collapsed again amid heavy rains Sunday, but the city is sticking to its forecast of completing repairs about two months from now. A portion of the 2300 block of E. Monument St. between Patterson Park and North Montford avenues was closed to vehicles but open to pedestrians Monday, said Malkia McLeod, a spokeswoman for the city Department of Public Works....

As of 9 a.m. Monday, traffic was slow on U.S. 50 westbound at Md. 450, due to an accident. Accidents were slowing traffic on the outer loop of I-695 near Security Boulevard in Baltimore County, Hollins Ferry Road near Hammonds Ferry Road in Baltimore County, Route 32 eastbound near I-95 in Howard County, the Belair Bypass near Route 24 in Harford County, Carroll Island Road near Eastern Avenue in Middle River, and Mayfield Avenue near Windsor Mill...

Heavy rains that lashed central Maryland on Sunday forced a portion of East Monument Street to be evacuated after a large sinkhole in the road reopened and expanded, according to a city public works spokesman. Tons of gravel and recycled concrete that city crews had used to backfill the hole began washing away as an estimated 1 to 3 inches of rain fell, forcing emergency crews to once again evacuate the north side of the 2300 block of East Monument Street, said Kurt Kocher, the spokesman.

No sooner had the crisis atmosphere lifted from the State House in Annapolis than a new budget sinkhole appeared last week. Since then, both the governor and legislators have been scrambling to avoid a plunge down this latest fiscal chasm.As hammer blows from the current economic recession continue to reverberate, state tax collections are in a free-fall. Even though fiscal experts have lowered revenue estimates three times since December -- and the legislature and governor have cut a whopping $550 million from the budget -- they discovered last week a new $109 million shortfall.

As of 9 a.m. Friday, traffic was slow on Route 26 at Klees Mills Road in Carroll County, due to an accident. Main Street was closed in Ellicott City from Old Columbia Pike to Westchester Road, due to cleanup from the CSX train derailment. The recommended detour is Route 40 westbound. Traffic was slow on I-895 near the Steel Bridge, due to construction activity. Monument Street is closed between Wolfe Street and Patterson Park Avenue in East Baltimore, due to sinkhole repairs.