Sinkhole closes Northbound I-75 and I-696 lanes

[Lowell]

Sinkholes seem to becoming a regular news feature...

The Michigan Department of Transportation has closed all lanes of northbound Interstate 75 at I-696 in Oakland County for emergency repairs as crews investigate a nearby sinkhole.

The sinkhole was created when crews working to install a drainage tunnel beneath the northbound service drive between 11 Mile Road and Gardenia Avenue, bored into a pocket of groundwater 100 feet below the surface. The rise in water pressure created a sinkhole beneath the service drive.

MDOT reported the ramps from I-696 to northbound I-75 would also be closed. It is unknown when the roads will reopen.

https://freep-mi.newsmemory.com?publ...cdafa6_1345e4f

[Jimaz]

The sinkhole was created when crews working to install a drainage tunnel ... bored into a pocket of groundwater....

Oh, the irony.

All that heavy rain we received recently couldn't have helped.

[Danny]

Fix repeat, fix repeat. It seems to me that I-75 is haunted!

[Colombian Dan]

The south end of Royal Oak has a high water table. The Knowles drain was the first attempt of draining the area in 1906. Twelve Towns came much later. The challenge is there is a 50-100 foot clay layer below the sand. The sand extends only 10 feet down from the surface. The current drainage system can only remove so much water. Building over the Red Run flood plain probably didn't help things in the long run. Mother Nature finds a way to win.

[Hermod]

Few peole remember that southern Oakland and Macomb counties were once an impassable swamp. Settlers would go to Detroit, outfit themselves, then go by water to the mouth of the Clinton River, and then work their way inland.