A sinkhole has opened on one of York’s busiest roads.
An urgent investigation has been launched after the void opened on St Leonard’s Place in the road outside the Theatre Royal.
A City of York Council spokesperson said: “While it has been made safe by City of York Council it requires urgent investigation and attention.
“In order to investigate fully, from 6am tomorrow (Thursday) the portion of St Leonard’s Place from the Theatre Royal to the Red House antiques centre will be made into one lane for traffic, and put under temporary traffic light control.”
It comes as Queen Street is due to close from Saturday evening to Tuesday morning as part of the station upgrade.
The cause of the sinkhole is not yet known and the council says the works could take around two weeks to complete.
“Once our teams have been able to safely access the site we will have a much better understanding of the causes and how we can quickly and safely repair the hole and road surface and will share any updates as necessary,” the council spokesperson added.
“As usual, the site will be assessed for any archaeological remains once excavation starts.”
The taxi rank which is normally used at night only will be suspended during the works. The bus stop changes are below.
The Theatre Royal is open as usual and pedestrian access to both the theatre and neighbouring businesses is unaffected.
Bus stop changes
While buses will continue to use the road as usual, the bus stops outside and opposite the Theatre Royal will move.
From 6am on Thursday, southbound buses using those stops – including services 1 (towards Chapelfields), 5/5A (towards Acomb), 6 (towards University of York), 30 and 40 (towards York College), will all use a temporary stop at the taxi rank by Bootham Bar, which will be sign posted.
In the northbound direction, service 1 (towards Wigginton) will use stop ED, at the shelter next to Exhibition Square. Services 5/5A (towards Strensall) and 6 (towards Clifton Moor) will use a temporary stop on Museum St, on the same side of the road as stop EA (for Rawcliffe Bar P&R).
The temporary traffic lights will be staffed between 7am and 7pm to enable the council to manage the signals and “respond dynamically to levels of traffic, to limit disruption for all road users including those using Gillygate and Bootham”.
Local businesses have been written to with an update.
Cllr Kate Ravilious, Executive Member for Transport said: “These unavoidable emergency works come at a busy time for York’s road network, with the planned closure on Queen Street this weekend.
“York is very much open for business and we encourage everyone to plan ahead, use public transport, walk or cycle where possible, to help reduce traffic congestion in the city centre.
“For example, Askham Bar, Poppleton Bar, Monks Cross and Grimston Bar Park and Ride routes do not use St Leonard’s Place and would make excellent alternatives to driving in to the city.”