Sunset Residents Frustrated By Recurring Sinkhole

When Mike Wong noticed a depression in the street in front of his Sunset District home, he did what concerned citizens are supposed to do: By 3 p.m., however, the asphalt patch had sunk 6 inches — and by nightfall the thing had completely opened up, forcing the fire department to come out to cordon off the area. Wong, a 45-year-old product developer who has lived on the block for 17 years, was happy the city responded so quickly, but the amount of time and energy that has gone into fixing what he sees as a simple hole is less than encouraging. [...] I’m afraid to know what’s bigger than a gaping hole in the street. The sinkhole on Quintara stems from a faulty sewer line, said Jean Walsh, a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the agency responsible for upkeep on the city’s more than 1,000 miles of pipes, many of which are 70 to 100 years old. The pipe underneath Quintara Street — a 15-inch sewer line installed in 1940 — has a crack in it, and the dirt fill above has entered the pipe, leaving a void between the pipe and the roadway and sinkholes above. [...] while crews from the Department of Public Works are charged with maintaining streets throughout the city — they filled 15,823 potholes last fiscal year, Gordon said — the sinkhole, which now sits patched but surrounded by large traffic cones, is likely to remain a trouble spot until a permanent fix can be made to the sewer underneath the street. With the goal of replacing 15 miles of sewer line per year, the city has “to maximize the use of city resources by coordinating jobs in the same geographic area whenever possible.” “It’s distressing that it takes so many calls to get things like this done, but I’m really more scared that a bus or a car could go in there and someone could get hurt,” he said. Issue: A sinkhole on Quintara Street in San Francisco’s Sunset District has appeared and been patched five times over the last nine months due to a faulty sewer line beneath the street, leading neighbors to wonder when, if ever, a permanent fix will be put in. The Public Utilities Commission has selected a contractor to make the repairs, which should prevent the street from continuing to crumble.