Section of Taipei road sinks, tilting 4 cars

Taipei, Feb. 24 (CNA) A section of a road in Taipei's Songshan District sank Friday night, due to a fault at a nearby construction site, and four parked cars tipped over at an angle, but no injuries have been reported, according to the city government.

The incident occurred on a 2-3 meter stretch of pavement on the intersection of Qingcheng Street and Changchun Road, the Taipei City Construction Management Office said Saturday, adding that it was notified at 9:15 p.m.

It was near a construction site where Continental Engineering Corp. was digging a trench, 1.2 meters wide and 14 meters deep, to build a retaining slurry wall, the office said in statement. The exterior retaining wall near the trench collapsed, and the section of road near it sank, the office said.

"We will rebuild the retaining walls of the trench to prevent the situation from worsening," and the city government will closely monitor the site, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said.

The restoration work was likely to be completed by noon Saturday, the city government said, adding while four cars had tipped over at an angle, no injuries had occurred at the site.

Meanwhile, the section of road on Qingcheng Street was closed Friday night and was not expected to be reopened until Sunday afternoon, according to the construction office.

The construction office said it has consulted the Taipei Professional Civil Engineers Association and the Taipei Structural Engineers Association, which have both said that the incident posed no immediate threat to the nearby buildings.

Mayor Chiang and several other Taipei City government officials have also visited the site, including Deputy Mayor Lee Shu-chuan (李四川), Department of Urban Development Commissioner Wang Yu-fen (王玉芬), and Police Department Commissioner Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興), according to the office.

A woman surnamed Chen (陳), who lives in the area said she heard two or three loud crashes Friday night, and when she went outside, she saw the sink in the road.

City Councilor Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華), who also visited the site, said construction companies should be required to hire geotechnical engineers, whose job is to assess the physical, mechanical and chemical properties of the soil and rock at construction sites and design adequate foundations, retaining structures and earthworks.

Continental Engineering Corp. has been fined NT$180,000 (US$5,693), in accordance with the Building Act, and ordered to suspend the construction work, the construction office said.

Update

Feb. 25: 2-way traffic restored after manmade sinkhole on Taipei road repaired