Rumours that a new sinkhole has opened up on the N2 between Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth have been dismissed by the national roads agency.
Rumours that a new sinkhole has opened up on the N2 between Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth have been dismissed by the national roads agency.
One lane of the freeway was closed on Monday 4 November, five kilometres from Grahamstown near the Stone Crescent hotel. With a large hole visible, some assumed the road had collapsed. The hole is only a few kilometers from where the N2 collapsed in a dramatic washaway last September.
Workers closed off one of the three lanes on the busy road on Monday morning where the hole was.
One traveller reported that the fast lane had to be closed on Monday afternoon. Traffic had not been seriously disrupted because there were two usable lanes.
Around 3pm on Monday the person told Grocott's Mail that it appeared no work had been done on the hole since the morning.
South African National Roads Agency (Sanral) employees visited the site.
Manager for routine road maintenance at Sanral Roland Thompson dismissed the sinkhole rumours and said it was just a pothole.
"It is just a 500mm-deep pothole that happened after a vehicle punctured a tyre, spun out of control and damaged the road," Thompson said.
Meanwhile repairs to the washaway that destroyed a section of the N2 to Port Elizabeth, 20km from Grahamstown, last September is almost complete.
The road was closed for two months, after it collapsed during floods. Motorists have since been using the bypass that was built.
According to Thompson his team has to place the top black layer in order for it to be finished. He said the road would be open for use in two weeks,
