News of Madison Valley

King County Wastewater Treatment Division (WTD) crews and contractors are responding to a sinkhole that was reported May 31, along 40th Avenue near East Olive Street in Madison Valley.

Crews came to cover the sinkhole with steel plates for safety reasons, and traffic flow can continue through the neighborhood. Community outreach employees with WTD are going door-to-door along 40th Avenue to provide information about the work that will be taking place in the neighborhood to repair the sinkhole. 

The sinkhole is approximately five feet wide and four feet deep, and surrounding a WTD manhole cover. Crews have not yet determined the cause of the sinkhole, and don’t believe that the sewer line running down 40th Avenue is broken.

There are several buried pipes that run through the area, including sewer and water pipes, and it has not yet been determined whether one of the pipes has broken.