Sinking Sewer Caps In Oak Creek: Can They Be Fixed?

OAK CREEK, WI — You're driving your car along E. Drexel Ave. in Oak Creek when all of a sudden, your car goes over a sewer cap. Your car shudders as it drives over the cap, which is lower than the height of the road you're traveling on.

This week, we asked Oak Creek Patch readers if there was one problem they could fix, what would it be? We had a number of people mention the sinking sewer caps along that stretch of road, to see if there was anything that could be done about them.

Assistant Director of Public Works Ralph Kneusel was kind enough to help us with getting to the bottom of this issue.

Patch: What causes the sinking sewer caps in that area?

Kneusel: Sometimes the manholes break down from below in which case the frames fall down a bit from the pavement. Sometimes the pavement heaves in the freezing weather and thus becomes slightly higher than the manhole frames. Engineering staff opened some of these manholes up and observed that it is likely the former cause, thus the manhole frames should be looked at closely for necessary repairs to bring them back up to proper grade.

Patch: How are they normally fixed?

Kneusel: The manholes frames must be exposed by removing the surrounding pavement, enabling the manhole repair to be completed, then the pavement can be replaced.

Patch: Are there any plans to fix them in the near future?

Kneusel: Oak Creek has been in contact with AT&T notifying them of the complaints and of staff’s observations of the conditions.