Even though stones have recently fallen from the ceiling of the 19th-century stone-arch stormwater tunnel underneath Pottsville, city officials are reluctant to do an engineering study.
"An engineering study is not cheap. I don't want to look at it. I'm afraid I'd be shocked. I think even if they did it piecemeal, we'd have a hard time affording that. We had no formal discussion on it. I worry about everything that happens in the city, but we're strapped. We're counting paper clips," Mayor John D.W. Reiley said Monday afternoon.
Two weeks ago, a 1-foot-wide section of the tunnel over Norwegian Creek caved in. It's on the far southwest side of the parking lot at Kentucky Fried Chicken, 419 S. Claude A. Lord Blvd., Pottsville.
Daniel E. Kelly, city superintendent of streets, recommended the city try to repair the arch by bringing in a contractor.
"I think it's something we can simply fix," Kelly said Monday night.
As of Monday, a contractor hadn't visited the site, Kelly said.
The city council did not have the hole in the KFC parking lot and the stone-arch tunnel on its agenda of its regular monthly meeting Monday night.
When asked during the public portion of the meeting, the council deferred to City Administrator Thomas A. Palamar, who explained the steps the city would take to repair it.
"A contractor is giving us an estimate on what he believes is wrong. Once he does that, we will determine what we need to do next, whether we have to do a further study on it or whether or not we can just repair it. We're keeping an eye on it right now, just to make sure it's not getting any worse," Palamar said Monday night.
The council will not consider doing an engineering study unless Kelly recommends it, Palamar said.
"Dan's on top of things and if he believes that an engineering study is needed and more work needs to be done, it will be done," Palamar said.
In recent years, the city has dealt with a few problems with the Norwegian Creek tunnel:
- In November 2012, the city paid Mazzuca Enterprises, Pottsville, $34,000 to repair a break in a stone-arch that created a hole in the 100 block of Mahantongo Street. That hole was 8 feet deep and 12 to 15 feet long.
- In March 2011, 4 inches of rain soaked the county, debris blocked an underground stone drain on the 700 block of Water Street and rushing waters broke through the roadway near the sidewalk at 728 Water St.
That summer, the city spent an estimated $30,000, removed 270 foot stretch of the old stone-arch system and replaced it with corrugated, hard plastic pipe 36 inches in diameter, Kelly and Palamar said previously.
- On Jan. 17, 2006, a section of a parking lot owned by Richard B. Ryon Insurance Co. and Century 21 Ryon Real Estate at 200 W. Norwegian St. began sinking. Heavy rains led to a subsidence April 6, 2006.
"That wasn't stone arch. That was a concrete section. Over the years, there were sections that were changed," Kelly said Monday.
The 15-by-30-foot hole in the parking lot remained for more than five years as city officials and representatives of the insurance and real estate firms discussed options for repairs.
In May 2011, Ryon hired Tropp Contracting Inc., Pottsville, to cap the hole and restore the parking lot. Contractor Bob Roos, Pottsville, also worked on the project, which cost an estimated $60,000, Richard F. Ryon Jr., vice president of Ryon Real Estate, said at the time.