A pothole has turned into a sinkhole on Canning Highway in Mt Pleasant.
Camera IconA pothole has turned into a sinkhole on Canning Highway in Mt Pleasant. Credit: Supplied/Josh Zimmerman.

Mt Pleasant: Canning Highway pothole turns into half-metre sinkhole as left lane blocked

Staff WriterMelville Gazette

UPDATE: Emergency works to repair the sinkhole on Canning Highway have now been completed.

EARLIER: MOTORISTS have been urged to use extreme caution travelling on Canning Highway after a pothole has opened up into a sinkhole.

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The sinkhole, which is about 30cm wide and half a metre deep, has forced the closure of the left-hand lane of Canning Highway westbound, near The Esplanade in Mt Pleasant.

A pothole has turned into a sinkhole on Canning Highway in Mt Pleasant. Josh Zimmerman.
Camera IconA pothole has turned into a sinkhole on Canning Highway in Mt Pleasant. Josh Zimmerman. Credit: Supplied/Josh Zimmerman.

The Esplanade northbound is also blocked off, but there are no significant traffic congestion issues in the area at this stage.

The sinkhole that has developed on Canning Highway this afternoon is likely a result of Perth’s recent wet weather, according to ECU Civil Engineering expert Associate Professor Sanjay Kumar Shukla.

Professor Shukla said it appeared that the surface water from recent rains had seeped into the ground beneath the localised low-lying bituminous road surface.

This could have caused the road base/subbase materials beneath to migrate under the influence of seepage forces towards some form of weakly compacted zones, leading to the sinkhole.

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