Route 202 in King of Prussia reopens after repairs
Repairs to the “significant depression” in the roadway took less than two days, but this is the third time this has happened in the last nine months.
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A busy section of Route 202 in King of Prussia is fully reopened after another pavement repair.
On Wednesday, lanes on the section of Dekalb Pike between Henderson Road and Saulin Boulevard were shut down after PennDot found a “significant depression” in the northbound lanes.
When it comes to roads, depressions are caused by the soil turning soft due to a rock erosion that leads to groundwater sneaking through the cracks. This particular stretch of the road is especially prone to this phenomenon because it sits on a karst, a landscape of limestone, making it easily damaged by water.
Similar situations took place in July and December, when sinkholes developed and disrupted traffic.
“It’s scary to think that our roads aren’t safe,” Salvatore Giannone, 38, owner of King of Prussia’s Sal’s Barbershop, told The Inquirer after the December problem.
PennDot crews have been trying to identify the source of the water that is causing the issues.
According to PennDot, sinkholes or soft soil could form again in this area. A project to address the issue is planned for the the summer, when “more advanced equipment and techniques will be used to stabilize the foundation below the roadway,” said PennDot spokesperson Brad Rudolph.
Until then, this depression was excavated, backfilled to pavement level, and filled with subbase and binder before paving and striping.