Giant sinkhole in Tijuana disrupts travel near Mexico-US border

Tijuana, Mexico, Mar 30 (EFE).- A sinkhole 35 m (115 ft) deep is causing havoc for drivers in this city on Mexico’s border with the United States.

Municipal authorities said they first learned about the landslide in Matadero Canyon from the US Border Patrol, which monitors the area as it lies near the barrier separating California from the Mexican state of Baja California.

The sinkhole generated cracks on the heavily traveled highway from central Tijuana to coastal Playas de Tijuana, forcing officials to close two lanes, leading to massive backups.

Enrique Bautista Corona, head of development for the Tijuana administration, said that repairing the road could take as long as four months.

“In recent days faults appeared in the hillside, this was caused by rains and erosion and that caused a landslide on the north side of the slope,” he told the media. “And a blockage in the 94-inch (wide) rain drainage tube on the north side, generating a pooling of water.”

To alleviate the traffic chaos, Tijuana has reversed the flow on one of the remaining intact lanes and barred trucks with heavy loads from traveling on the Playas de Tijuana highway, while encouraging the use of alternative routes.

Gabriel Vizcaino, president of the CMIC construction industry association, emphasized the economic importance of Playas de Tijuana and the need for quick action.

“It’s of the greatest relevance that authorities hasten to provide a solution to the sinkhole that happened on the access to Playas de Tijuana, since it is the principal connection to an important commercial and tourist zone,” he told reporters. EFE ma/dr