SINK HOLE WATCH: Work resumes at sinkhole beside Morganton post office

The U.S. Postal Service has resumed repairs to the parking lot of the Morganton Post Office at the site of what used to be an enormous sinkhole that was finally fixed last fall, three years after it initially opened.

Postal Service spokesman Philip Bogenberger confirmed Thursday afternoon that the USPS is again making repairs. 

Bogenberger did not respond to requests for additional details, such as the nature of the work and timelines. Bogenberger didn’t say whether or not the current project is a continuation of the earlier repairs.

The sinkhole became something of a local phenomenon as it expanded incrementally across the parking lot for three years. 

The chasm opened up when a catch basin near the loading dock of the post office failed. Stormwater then ran downhill underneath the parking lot toward a car wash owned by Tim Biddix. Biddix was forced to close the business.

Eventually, the sinkhole reached a maximum depth of around 10 feet and swallowed a sizable chunk of the parking lot. 

As the hole widened, city officials became concerned it might damage a pressurized sewer line that runs along North Green Street. If that had happened, raw sewage would have been blasted across Sanford Drive, down a hill, and then into the Catawba River, which supplies drinking water to numerous communities downstream.

Soon after the hole formed, the City of Morganton’s research determined the postal service was responsible for its repair. Despite repeated assertions on the part of the USPS that repairs were imminent, nothing happened until September 2023.

Work crews dug up much of the parking lot downhill from the hole and installed a new drainage system. The work wrapped up in October.

Marty Queen is the senior reporter for The Paper. He may be reached at 828-445-8595 or marty@thepaper.media.