By Robert Haugh
A sinkhole swallowed two cars yesterday near Levi’s Stadium on Stars and Stripes Drive. It’s near the 49ers practice fields and the Youth Soccer Park. The lot is used by Amtrak and light rail commuters.
City staff said an underground pipe burst opening up a 25-foot-wide hole that was about 4-feet deep.
City crews removed the two cars and are repairing the pipe. The work is expected to be done on Friday.
We could not get anyone to confirm if the City will rename the area the “Jed York Sinkhole.” But we understand that the name is under consideration.
Did you mean this is where he sunk his $3mil?
Yup. Recall that this part of Santa Clara originally was designated “industrial.” Maybe there was a reason? USGS says “Sinkholes are common where the rock below the land surface is limestone, carbonate rock, salt beds, or rocks that can naturally be dissolved by groundwater circulating through them. As the rock dissolves, spaces and caverns develop underground. Sinkholes are dramatic because the land usually stays intact for a while until the underground spaces just get too big.” (https://tinyurl.com/y3lwmedv) With sea water rise and so-called 100-year floods becoming more common, is it wise to urbanize this area? Or is there some architectural trick builders can deploy — sky scrappers on stilts perhaps? But then .. what about earthquakes?