Large sinkhole opening up in downtown Tulsa street

A KRMG listener alerted us, and we contacted the street department

A sinkhole has developed in a busy downtown Tulsa street, but a citizen who spotted it was having a hard time bringing it to the city's attention.

So attorney Forrest Turney texted KRMG to explain the problem, and we called him back.

He said he was crossing 5th Street at Detroit Avenue when he spotted the hole.

"Right in the center of the street there, I looked down and there's this hole. It's about a foot across, and I looked down in there, I couldn't see the bottom of it. Then I noticed that the pavement all around it kind of sank in and caved in, so it's several feet in diameter around," he told our reporter.

"It looks like when it goes, it's going to eventually cave in with a bus or something driving over it," he said.

He told us he tried to call the city's Customer Service hotline, but was placed on hold and couldn't wait, because he had to get back to work.

So KRMG called the city street department to report the issue, and later headed downtown to see the situation for ourselves.

The sinkhole is developing on the west side of the intersection, right in the middle of 5th Street.

Crews by then had marked it off and were preparing the area for repair, which will reportedly begin Friday evening.

The two inside lanes of E. 5th Street are affected.