Springville sinkhole problem gets worse

SPRINGVILLE, N.Y. (WIVB) - A huge sinkhole in Springville has gotten even worse, and neighbors want to know why.

It's been a month since News 4 last visited South Buffalo Street.

Springville Mayor Bill Krebs said, "It's still moving. It's moving this way. And the hole is increasing in length north and south."

Mayor Krebs is frustrated with the slow progress of getting it fixed, "Six months to get half way across this road for this erosion; we can't wait. We can't wait another winter. Something has to be done."

Krebs tells News 4 the village is looking for Erie County to step up and make something happen, since it's a county-owned road.

Mayor Krebs said, "We were hoping that the county would take an immediate lead in this, and see the problem for what it is."

Erie County Department of Public Works Commissioner Gerry Sentz said, "We're all working very closely together. No one entity is taking the lead."

Sentz says he recently met with village and town officials and state and federal agencies to see what needs to be done, "What we think is happened is there some hollowing out from underneath the culvert. We don't know why. And that the end of the culvert is dropping. So basically what you're seeing is, it's dropping off and it's opening up, and all the dirt is falling in. And the more dirt that falls in the bigger the hole gets."

The next step, according to Sentz, is getting in and inspecting the culvert to see why water is getting underneath. That will require a temporary dam to halt the flow of water just above the spillway of the stream.

Commissioner Sentz said, "We need to do more investigative work."

But village officials like Mayor Krebs, and some nearby residents are tired of waiting.

Springville resident Donna Czora said, "They're saying at least maybe two years." 

The problem goes beyond the road itself. The creek bank near a youth park is showing signs of earth movement. Despite signs and some fencing around the impact zone, lots of kids are walking and riding bikes in the area.

Springville resident Shirley McCarthy said, "I can't believe that they can leave it like that, and then open it up so that the kids can go to community pool."

Aside from the traffic disruption and obvious safety concerns, the road collapse poses a very real environmental threat.

Village officials are worried that a sewer line several feet away could break just as the water line did.

Krebs said, "If that cracks, we will be dumping raw sewage into Spring Brook which runs down to Cattaraugus Creek."

Any way you look at, it's going to be a big job, and a big expense.

Sentz said, "Right now we don't have any idea what we're looking at."

Krebs said, "We can't wait five years, like Tonawanda Creek Road up north, to be fixed. This can't wait that long."