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Tag: Tennessee sinkhole

  • Austin Peay Sinkhole Story Blown Out of Proportion

    After a sinkhole opened up at the edge of the football field in Governors Stadium at Austin Peay University, it made news headlines. But, as the school’s athletic director said, it wasn’t the big event the media made it out to be.

    The sinkhole, starting out only about 3 feet by 5 feet with a 5 foot depth, had to be dug out more by construction crews to find stable bedrock in order to fill the hole with rock, concrete, and sub-grade asphalt. The hole expanded 40 feet deeper and 40 feet wider.

    “(It’s) not something you want to get national attention for,” Athletic Director Derek van der Merwe said. “How this has been portrayed is that this is a hole that has just all of a sudden appeared, and that’s not the case.”

    Because the school’s football stadium was already under renovation, it really wasn’t a major event. School officials even say that the sinkhole should not delay the $16.9 million renovation.

    To make light of the situation, Van der Merwe joked about the recent stadium sinkhole on Twitter.

    Others also joined in on the fun via Twitter.

    But, although no one was injured, Middle Tennessee does in fact have a problem with sinkholes due to the amount of underground limestone caves and that the type of rock below the surface tends to be a very dissolvable sedimentary rock, comprised primarily of minerals.

    Last August, another sinkhole opened up on Peay’s campus near the Maynard Mathematics Center. Smaller sinkholes have also been found in the parking lot of Governors Stadium.

    All sinkholes around the football stadium are expected to be repaired by mid-September, just in time for the football season’s home opener.

    Image via Twitter

  • Tennessee Sinkhole Destroys Austin Peay’s Football Field

    A 40-foot deep sinkhole has opened up on Austin Peay State University’s football field.

    The large sinkhole started as a small hole that first appeared a few weeks ago. According to the authorities, the small hole was the size of an office desk. Crews immediately started to work on preventing the hole from growing larger, but they were unsuccessful. By Monday, they had estimated the size of the sinkhole to be about 30 feet by 50 feet wide.

    As of today, the sinkhole has only affected one part of the Governors Stadium, which is being renovated. Reports say that the university is spending about $19 million for renovations. Engineers are looking for a permanent fix for the hole, and they are projecting that the stadium will be completely done by football season, which starts in September.

    Bill Persinger, the Tennessee school’s spokesperson, said that the sinkhole is not the first one that they have seen on campus grounds. “I’ve seen dozens of them. They come up all the time.” However, the most recent one has been the largest.

    Mike Jenkins, the superintendent for a Nashville-based construction company who is in charge of the stadium’s renovations said that they have already set a budget for sinkhole remediaton when they did the budget for the football stadium. “You never know to what extent you’re going to run into them, but we know that Montgomery County, and Austin Peay State University specifically, is famous for sinkholes.”

    Based on reports from the U.S. Geological Survey, sinkholes are most common in places where carbonate rocks, salt beds, and limestone rocks are abundant. In these places, groundwater is capable of circulating through the rocks, and this causes spaces to develop underground.

    Aside from Tennessee, there have also been reports of giant sinkholes in Florida and Kentucky. Last year, a large sinkhole in Florida appeared and ate up part of a resort located near Disney World. In February, another 40-foot sinkhole opened up at the National Corvette Museum in Kentucky, and swallowed eight Corvette collector’s edition cars.

    Image via YouTube

  • Tennessee Sinkhole at Football Stadium in Repair

    Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee has a problem with sinkholes.

    Last August, a 5-foot sinkhole opened up on campus near the Maynard Mathematics Center. Then, last month, another was discovered at Governors Stadium during renovation where the football field meets the track.

    The most recent sinkhole started out only about 3 feet by 5 feet with a 5 foot depth, but construction crews have had to dig 40 feet deeper and 40 feet wider to find stable bedrock in order to fill the hole with rock, concrete, and sub-grade asphalt.

    “We actually put a line item in the budget for sinkhole remediation,” said Mike Jenkins, superintendent for Bell & Associates Construction. “You never know to what extent you’re going to run into them, but we know that Montgomery County, and Austin Peay State University specifically, is famous for sinkholes.”

    The problem in Middle Tennessee is the amount of underground limestone caves and that the type of rock below the surface tends to be a very dissolvable sedimentary rock, comprised primarily of minerals.

    According to USS Sinkhole Repair, there are obvious warning signs to prevent a sinkhole from further developing. For example, looking for structural foundations cracking, windows and doors jamming, and depressions in the ground or around the structure.

    Luckily, no one has been injured in any of the recent sinkhole incidents on Austin Peay State’s campus.

    Other small sinkholes, like those in the parking lot of the stadium, are also expected to be fixed by the construction crews. All renovations and fixes are expected to be completed by mid-September, just in time for the football season’s home opener.


    Image via YouTube