Motorists on Route 30 probably don’t notice the massive sinkhole about 24 feet from the highway when they speed through Unity heading east.
A $720,000 project to stabilize and repair the sinkhole will ensure it stays that way.
“We felt that we wanted to be a responsible landowner and make sure the community was safe,” said Jane Menchyk, land protection manager with the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which is leading the project.
Officials learned about the sinkhole several years ago as a result of a collapsed connector between two underground culverts near the eastbound highway’s intersection with Fred Rogers Drive. An unnamed stream runs through the culverts, underneath Fred Rogers Drive and Route 30 before emptying into the Loyalhanna Creek.
With the first phase of work underway, crews will stabilize the sides of the sinkhole first. It is an estimated 30 feet deep.
Workers last month were installing a large pump and hose that will temporarily move the stream to existing drainage that empties into the Loyalhanna Creek west of the Route 217 intersection at Kingston.
In May, they’re expected to start the second phase, which involves installing new underground infrastructure, adding a manhole to the surface and filling in the hole. The stream will resume its normal flow after work is complete.
There will be intermittent closures of Fred Rogers Drive during the project. Work is expected to be completed this year. The sinkhole is about 16 feet from Fred Rogers Drive, according to the conservancy.
A similar sinkhole along Route 30 in Hempfield in July 2019 prompted emergency repairs from PennDOT after a storm water line failed following record-setting rains.
The Unity crater is on a 1-acre parcel owned by the conservancy, said Menchyk, who added that it is an unusual project for the organization, which typically focuses on protecting watersheds and land. Officials from the organization, PennDOT and Unity have been working together for months to come up with a solution, township Supervisor Mike O’Barto said.
“The end result is to fix a dangerous situation that has existed for quite awhile,” he said.
It is in contrast to another crater connected to an abandoned mine that opened in the ground in December about 8 miles away in Unity, claiming the life of a 64-year-old woman. Emergency work in the weeks after to repair that sinkhole with grout totaled about $500,000, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
In addition to the safety issues related to the current sinkhole at Route 30 and Fred Rogers Drive, dirt possibly draining into the stream can have an environmental impact to water dwellers and the ecosystem, Menchyk said.
“When it comes to that hole and how large it is … that area of Loyalhanna Creek has been documented for really having exceptional water quality,” she said.
The project is being funded by state grants and private funding, according to the conservancy.
“We were lucky to be able to get those because, if not, this is a large number and would impact other responsibilities we have,” Menchyk said.
For more details and photos of the project, visit waterlandlife.org/land-conservation/loyalhannarestoration.