Traffic Restored on Mountain View Drive in Lafayette

Traffic was restored on Mountain View Drive in Lafayette Friday 19 days after the road collapsed because of a sinkhole.

"We laid an asphalt roadbed over the drain and opened the road at noon today," wrote Lafayette City Manager Steve Falk in an email. The city had called in emergency contractor C.C. Myers and authorized round-the-clock work with a goal of reopening by Christmas. The contractor beat that deadline.

at a grate just upstream of Mountain View Drive and the water undermined the roadway. Several residents had gas and water service interrupted for a day or so, and Mayor Mike Anderson and his family lost access to their driveway during the period of repairs.

The repair includes a large concrete culvert flanked by a couple of smaller plastic pipes.

Falk said PG&E and EBMUD would return next week to replace overhead and underground utilities — there may be some temporary lane closures because of that.

"After the New Year, once the utility work is completed, we'll add the top/ finishing coat of asphalt and stripe it," Falk said. "We'll also, at that time, repair some sidewalk pieces that were broken during the project, and bring in a fence builder to keep people out of the creek."