A large sinkhole opened up near the border between New Westminster and Coquitlam Friday morning, halting road and railway traffic in the area for hours.
Officials are blaming a broken water main for causing the pavement to cave in on Braid Street just east of Brunette Avenue around 7:30 a.m.
By the time firefighters arrived on scene, a van had already driven into the sinkhole and become stuck. Fortunately, there are no reports of injuries.
Repair crews did have to shut down traffic on a busy stretch of Braid, however, and officials decided to close off the nearby railyway tracks as well over concerns about an underground gas line.
"We want to make sure that we inspect that gas line, and we don't want to incur any vibration from trains running through here," New Westminster Fire Chief Tim Armstrong said.
The shutdown left one Canada-bound Amtrak train stranded south of the border in Bellingham, Wash., but rail traffic had started moving again by around 2 p.m.
By that time, only about 50 passengers were left on the Amtrak train. Others were put on buses or otherwise reaccommodated.
One year ago, the intersection was shut down when another section of water main ruptured. The city told CTV News the infrastructure is aging and due for a replacement this year.
City engineers estimated the sinkhole would be repaired and traffic fully reopened by the end of the day.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Maria Weisgarber
