ROLLED INTO ASPHALT

MOSCOW OBSERVER

By seven o'clock on Tuesday morning, traffic was restored along the collapsed section of Leningradsky Prospekt. According to the predictions of the diggers, this is only a temporary solution to the problem, since cracks have formed near the collapse and new ones may form...

By seven o'clock on Tuesday morning, traffic was restored along the collapsed section of Leningradsky Prospekt. According to the predictions of the diggers, this is only a temporary solution to the problem, since cracks have formed near the collapse and new gullies may form.

Alexander Maksimenko, deputy head of the Moscow construction complex, said that an underground aquifer was disturbed during construction. Ground water, having changed direction, began to flow to the place of the future failure and gradually wash out the sandy soil from under the asphalt and pipes lying in the ground. The gully gradually grew, and at some point the pipes could not bear their own weight and burst.

The press service of the Department of Urban Development of Moscow told us that the builders did not take into account the peculiarities of the hydrogeological terrain and groundwater began to wash out the soil. The Topflor-invest company, commissioned by the development company Sistema Hals, erected the building of the Russian representative office of Siemens. By decision of the expert commission, the developer has been deprived of a license and will no longer be allowed to build this facility. Despite the circumstances, "the construction of the building will continue after the technical problems are fixed," said Alexei Vvedensky, head of the press service.

Moscow diggers were the first to arrive at the site of the collapse. Vadim Mikhailov, head of the Digger-Spas center, personally explored the dungeons of this area and gives not the most comforting forecasts for the development of the situation.

— Do you think that the hole can spread further and further?

- Maybe. It's like an ulcer if left untreated. The method of falling asleep, of course, solves the problem in the local area, but does not solve it around. Many of the soils that we looked at along Leningradsky Prospekt are also saturated with water.

How long does it take for a void to form?

- So this is how: when a heating main breaks, these are minutes, and huge cavities appear - 60-100 meters, when a sewer breaks - weeks, and with such a leak at a water canal - months and even years.

- And in this case?

In this case, it's two or three months.

“So the builders have been working all this time?”

- They were pumping out. Water got to them, there was sand in the water, they continued to pump out. And it is not known where they pumped this water, we were not allowed to see it.

Did the builders know they were going to have an accident soon?

- Of course, many of them, who are simpler, said so when we talked with them. The authorities keep stone faces. Moreover, I want to say that the water came from them into some other cavity. Here asphalt, gravel, cultural layer, sand and a small layer of clay that will not hold anything, and then again sand.