PHOENIX — An earth fissure that opened unexpectedly two weeks ago during a flash-flood storm near Queen Creek has been repaired.
The work on San Tan Boulevard near Riggs and Sossaman roads isn't the first time an earth fissure has threatened a road in the area.
Last week, Pinal County workers shored up the more heavily traveled Hunt Highway south of San Tan Boulevard to prevent it from disrupting road travel by backfilling it with material, said Greg Stanley, Pinal County public works director.
Earth fissures form after too much groundwater pumping results in land subsidence.
They have plagued homeowners in Pinal County and other former farming areas but also can be found in more established areas, such as Luke Air Force Base in the western part of the metro Phoenix area.
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Roads can be put at risk by the changing landscape, leaving civil engineers to design ways to fix and protect thoroughfares that could give way after a sudden downpour.
The Arizona Geological Survey estimates there are hundreds of earth fissures crisscrossing Central and Southern Arizona. Last year, the Legislature gave the survey money to update fissure maps and make them more widely available to the public.
"The problem is when you put fissures on a map, they're going to cut across the transportation infrastructure," said Mimi Diaz, Phoenix branch chief for the survey. "There's basically no way to avoid it."
Ralph Weeks, a geoscientist and engineer with a Tempe-based consulting firm, said there is no way to avoid building roads atop earth fissures.
"If you want to go from A to B and there's an earth fissure, you've got to go over it," he said. "It's a quiet hazard.
