Mountain St. will remain closed for a few days following a gaping sinkhole that opened up between Ste-Catherine St. and De Maisonneuve Blvd. Saturday afternoon.

The hole appears to be 30 centimetres deep, and spans across one lane, roughly two metres long by three metres wide.

City workers spent Sunday excavating at the site.

Repairs began Sunday mornng on the sinkhole. Ciyy officials said the collapse was caused by a drain pipe that broke under the street.

A perimeter has been blocked off and traffic has been closed in the immediate area, from Ste. Catherine to De Maisonneuve.

The broken drain will have to be replaced and Mountain St. likely won’t re-open until late Monday at the earliest.

Not the first

Montrealers are no strangers to sinkholes on downtown streets. In August 2013, a massive sinkhole swallowed a backhoe as a construction crew was preparing to repair a leaking water main that runs underneath Ste. Catherine St. at the corner of Guy St.

In April 2012, a four-metre square sinkhole opened up not far from McGill University on Sherbrooke St. just hours after a massive student protest attracting ten of thousands of people had marched over it.
 

 

Ste-Catherine to get crucial overhaul

The sinkhole comes on the heels of an announcement by Mayor Denis Coderre that the city is seeking the input of Montrealers ahead of a major reconstruction on Ste-Catherine St., nearby.

The work to be done is crucial work on sewer systems and water mains, some of which date to the 1800s.

The first phase of the project will be between Bleury St. and Mansfield in the spring of 2016 and last two to three years.

The cost for that section's basic work will be $80 to $95 million.