The right rear wheel of a Kreitzer Sanitation garbage truck fell into a subsidence Monday morning in front of the Necho Allen building on Mahantongo Street in Pottsville, closing a the first block of the street.
Dan Kelly, the city's superintendent of streets, said a stone arch collapsed about 7:45 a.m.
John Seasock, the driver of the garbage truck, said he was in the vehicle with another worker and they had just stopped at the light at Centre and Mahantongo streets and shortly thereafter noticed something was not right.
He said they started about an hour earlier, collecting recyclables, which made the weight about 20,000 pounds.
"I had no idea what happened and we looked in the back of the mirror and the truck was in the back of a sinkhole," he said.
Seasock called 9-1-1.
Both got out of the truck and directed traffic away from the scene. Seasock also called the Orwigsburg-based Kreitzer firm and told them what happened.
Workers erected barricades from the Schuylkill County's VISION headquarters at Second Street to the traffic light at Centre Street.
"There's a lot of old stone arches under this city," Kelly said.
The section of roadway, Kelly said, could "possibly be closed to the end of the week."
Mazzuca Enterprises Inc., Pottsville, will fix the hole, Kelly said.
The hole is eight feet deep, and 12 to 15 feet long. Barricades and metal plates cover the area.
The stone arch is 48 inches and dates back to the 1880s, Kelly said, adding the work could take "three to five days depending upon what they run into."
Mazzuca began repair work Monday, and Kelly said an excavator will be used.
Large, black plastic corrugated pipes will used to take the place of the stone arch.
"It was pretty big," Seasock said of the hole.
He has been with the company for about a year. "The whole thing was pretty painless," he said.
Trail Towing removed the truck from the sinkhole, Seasock added.
Todd March, city fire chief, said he was called to the scene to make sure there were no leaking fluids and the truck was in good condition. It was, he added.
March said the garbage truck's right rear tire was about halfway into the hole.
City police directed traffic at the scene.