Skip to main content

VIDEO: A sinking feeling in Florence

Be careful where you park your car in Florence, Italy. Might be best to not leave your vehicle next to the River Arno. In this case, 20 drivers returned to their cars only to find them sitting in a 6.5m deep sinkhole next to the river. The ‘hole’ appeared after what media reports said was a water main burst that flooded the road’s substructure, dropping nearly 200m of pavement into rushing water from the ruptured pipe. Vehicles remained out of the river, thanks to a brick wall. Nobody was injured in the
May 27, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Be careful where you park your car in Florence, Italy. Might be best to not leave your vehicle next to the River Arno.

In this case, 20 drivers returned to their cars only to find them sitting in a 6.5m deep sinkhole next to the river.

The ‘hole’ appeared after what media reports said was a water main burst that flooded the road’s substructure, dropping nearly 200m of pavement into rushing water from the ruptured pipe. Vehicles remained out of the river, thanks to a brick wall.

Nobody was injured in the collapse and emergency crews quickly began the cleanup of the area that leads up to the city’s iconic Ponte Vecchio. Tourists were quick to capitalise on the sight by taking ‘selfies’ with the sunken parking area in the background.

Related Content

  • Kuwait’s key causeway contract under construction
    July 4, 2016
    A new causeway, crossing the Bay of Kuwait, is under construction and providing a major engineering challenge - Mike Woof reports. The new Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Causeway Project being built across the Bay of Kuwait is a massive engineering project that is costing around US$3 billion in all. This highly complex project involves the design, build, completion and maintenance of the causeway, which spans Kuwait Bay between Kuwait City and the Subiyah area. The 36km Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Cau
  • Caterpillar: this is what the future looks like
    April 14, 2016
    Fuel efficiency and powertrain alternatives are crucial for the future of construction, while the issue of emissions will remain a priority for some time to come – that was the message from Caterpillar’s roundtable event at bauma 2016. Senior executives from the company spoke with journalists, discussing key future technology developments and trends for the firm. Paolo Fellin is VP Global Construction & Infrastructure, while Ken Hoefling is VP for Building Construction Products. Karl Weiss is VP Earthmovin
  • UK crashes caused by driver error says IAM
    October 9, 2015
    According to the UK’s Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), the biggest cause of crashes on UK roads is driver error. Figures from the Department of Transport show that in 2014 driver/rider error or reaction were cited as contributory factors in 74% of accidents, involving more than 117,000 casualties. Some 20,830 of these were in London alone.
  • Colas develops novel chip seal solutions
    August 23, 2013
    Colas has been working on new chip seal solutions for high traffic roads using bitumen emulsions. Technical director Christine Deneuvillers presented the company’s new range of Colas High Traffic chip seals to the 2013 FEHRL Infrastructure Research Meeting (FIRM13) in Brussels in June this year. Although chip seal is used on main roads in France, its most common application is on rural roads, said Deneuvillers. But today’s financial restraints mean that techniques such as chipseal, which can help exten