2nd Sinkhole Appears on Main Tel Aviv Highway

On Friday morning, a new sinkhole appeared on the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, two months after the thoroughfare had seen a few sections remained closed due to a similar incident for a number of weeks.

The sinkhole appeared near the Hagana Train Station in the Gush Dan region. Even though it opened up at the La Guardia interchange on the intracity freeway, there were no damages to property or injuries reported.

The incident

The police said that of the five lanes that go south, they had blocked three of them and drivers and traffic had been informed to look for alternative routes.

The road is operated by the company called Ayalon Highways and it dispatched safety experts to the scene of the incident in order to examine the extent of the damage caused by the sinkhole.

The authorities said that they would keep some of the lanes blocked until they can assure road safety properly.

The Ayalon Highway is at a greater risk of sinkholes because the road is constructed over the Ayalon Stream channel.

Furthermore, there has been severe flooding and a number of sinkholes have also opened up because there is huge amounts of construction and infrastructure work taking place in the area.

Sunday’s incident

In recent months, a number of sinkholes have made an appearance in Israel, with two such incidents recently taking place in Tel Aviv only.

A sinkhole had also appeared this week on Sunday close to Rabin Square and authorities had been called to take a look at it on the corner of the Zeitlin and Ibn Gabirol Streets in the city.

Media reports had said that there was a possibility that the construction of the light rail system in Tel Aviv and the Green Line, which is taking place in the said area, could have disturbed the subterranean soil thereby leading to the sinkhole.

Previous incident

Back in September, another sinkhole had appeared on the Ayalon Highway, which was about 15-meter deep, or 50-foot.

As it had opened up at the Hashalom Interchange, part of the highway had to be shut down for about two weeks.

According to reports, the construction work that was taking place nearby for the Azrieli Spiral Tower, which is slated to become the second-tallest building in Tel Aviv.

There had also been another sinkhole incident earlier this month in Hod Hasharon. It had opened up between two buildings in a parking spot.

All nearby buildings had been evacuated by emergency services when they arrived at the scene until the sinkhole had been examined by municipal engineers for identifying its cause.

Back in July, a sinkhole had appeared in a swimming pool. There had been a party taking place at a house located in the town of Karmei Yosef where it appeared.

One man had lost his life because of it. Reports later indicated that the swimming pool had not been constructed with the proper permissions required due to which it was not structurally sound.