Residents in Caughlin Ranch on Monday noticed water spilling onto Village Green Parkway and Pinebluff Trail and when crews got to the scene, they found a small hole in the road caused by a leak in a water valve underneath.
How does a leak cause the asphalt to collapse?
"The area of the water that is continually coming up will elevate the asphalt and then the dirt starts to escape and then it makes a bigger void and eventually the asphalt collapses,” said Marnell Heinz with City of Reno Public Works.
On Tuesday crews started working on the broken valve by making the hole much bigger to reach the valve. Heinz says that this is not uncommon with aging infrastructure and has happened about 5 or 6 times this year in various places around Reno. He says there is no way to prevent it.
Luckily no one was injured and they plan to have Village Green Parkway back open Tuesday night.
