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For the first time in more than four months, traffic is flowing freely on West Seventh Street near Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.

City crews on Friday reopened all lanes of the busy thoroughfare between Walnut and Chestnut streets after repairing damage caused by a sinkhole. A large sewer tunnel deep beneath the street — dating back to about 1880 — 

“We knew that this was going to take a long time because it was such complicated and difficult work, and you’ve got to make sure that the safety of the workers is foremost,” said Sean Kershaw, the city’s public works director.

The tunnel that collapsed is built into sandstone more than 30 feet beneath the street. While the damage may not have seemed significant from the surface,  Kershaw said there was a lot of work to be done underground — starting with creating a new, safe point for workers to access the collapsed area.

Then, “we had to carefully remove all of that debris and then get down into the tunnel and very carefully rebuild that tunnel,” Kershaw said. 

Crews used a type of concrete called shotcrete to reinforce the tunnel walls and ceiling, and also tuckpointed brick lining in the structure. Kershaw says the cost of the repairs is still being assessed, but will likely fall between $1 million and $2 million. 

He acknowledged the imposition that the lengthy repairs made on bars, restaurants and other businesses in the area — and said the city emphasized close communication with them. The repairs were completed just weeks ahead of the start of the Minnesota Wild season that will bring thousands of fans to the neighborhood for home games.

Kershaw said the section of tunnel that collapsed was city permit No. 20 — meaning, the 20th segment of sewer built in the city, back in the 1800s.

He said it’s still not clear exactly why soil and rock eroded and collapsed into the old tunnel. Water mains under the street also date back to the 1800s.

“We know that there was water of some sort — water from rain, water from water lines, water from sewage. Something caused all this to be eroded,” Kershaw said.

More utility work will be needed along West Seventh in the coming months and years. As crews made repairs over the past few months — tunneling down past old streetcar tracks and granite pavers — “we realized that there’s additional work to be done proactively,” Kershaw said. 

“We’ve gone in and identified future work that will need to be done, and we’ll be talking about the schedule for that going forward — but it won’t be anything like what happened these past four months.

Beyond city utility work, the Minnesota Department of Transportation has plans to make improvements to West Seventh Street — also known as State Highway 5 — 

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For the first time in more than four months, traffic is flowing freely on West Seventh Street near Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul — after crews finished repairing damage caused by a sinkhole.

Andrew Krueger | MPR News

An image showing repair work done to a sewer tunnel

After months of work to repair sinkhole damage, St. Paul's West Seventh Street fully reopens

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