http://www.chron.com/news/houston-traffic/article/Large-pothole-causes-accident-significant-12441020.php

"Large pothole" causes accident, significant traffic delay on U.S. 59

Meagan Flynn

Updated 7:24 am, Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Photo: John-Henry Perera

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A large pothole opened up on U.S. 59 southbound at Little York early Tuesday morning.

Photo: John-Henry Perera

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A large pothole opened up on U.S. 59 southbound at Little York early Tuesday morning.

Photo: John-Henry Perera

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A large pothole opened up on U.S. 59 southbound at Little York early Tuesday morning.

Photo: John-Henry Perera

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A large pothole opened up on U.S. 59 southbound at Little York early Tuesday morning.

Photo: John-Henry Perera

A "large pothole" has opened up on U.S. 59 southbound this morning, at Little York, according to police and Houston Transtar.

The pothole, about the size of a living room couch, was confirmed about 5:30 this morning, causing an accident and significant traffic delays, according to Houston Transtar.

Transtar reports seven vehicles were involved in the accident caused by the hole. The far left lane and three main lanes are closed, leaving just one lane open, said Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Danny Perez.

GALLERY: Sinkholes around the world

Photo: Andrew Francis Wallace, Getty Images

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Here's a look at other big sinkholes in the news recently.

A sinkhole opened up on Disco Road at Hwy 427 after a massive storm and flooding in the GTA.

Photo: Andrew Francis Wallace, Getty Images

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A sinkhole at Summer Bay Resort near Disney World on Monday in Clermont, Florida. The 40 to 60 foot sinkhole opened up under the resort building overnight. There were no injuries or deaths reported.

Click through the gallery for more images of this sinkhole and recent sinkholes around the world.

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Photo: Gerardo Mora, Getty Images

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Flash flooding leaves a massive sinkhole on Route 62 June 2, 2013 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A series of tornadoes ripped through the area on the evening of March 31st causing flash flooding, killing at least nine people, injuring many others and destroying homes and buildings. less

Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

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Flash flooding leaves a massive sinkhole on Route 62 June 2, 2013 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Photo: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

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Workers prepare to pull a truck from a sinkhole that opened up on a residential street in the South Deering neighborhood on April 18, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. The driver of the truck was hospitalized after driving into the 15-feet-deep hole while on his way to work. Two other vehicles were also swallowed by the sinkhole. less

Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images

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Workers prepare to pull a truck from a sinkhole that opened up on a residential street in the South Deering neighborhood on April 18, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois.

Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images

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The Chicago sinkhole.

Photo: Scott Olson, Getty Images

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In China: Rescuers move a dead body found in a sinkhole on a road in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province on May 21, 2013. Five people died when a 33-foot-wide sinkhole opened up at the gates of an industrial estate in Shenzhen, the southern Chinese boom town neighboring Hong Kong, local authorities said on May 21. less

Photo: AFP, Getty Images

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Rescuers prepare to move a dead body found in a sinkhole on a road in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong province on May 21, 2013.

Photo: AFP, Getty Images

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An engineer surveys in front of a home where sinkhole opened up on Friday, March 1, 2013, in Seffner, Fla. Jeffrey Bush, 37, screamed for help and disappeared late Thursday evening as a large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of the house, his brother, Jeremy Bush, said Friday. Jeremy Bush told rescue crews he heard a loud crash near midnight Thursday, then heard his brother screaming. Jeremy Bush called police and frantically tried to help. An arriving deputy pulled him from the still-collapsing house. There's been no contact with Jeffrey Bush since then, and neighbors on both sides of the home have been evacuated. Workers suspended the search for Jeffrey Bush on Saturday.
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Photo: Chris O'Meara

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A truck hangs over the edge of a sinkhole that opened up in the parking lot of Hughes Relocation Services, Monday, June 25, 2012, in Salt Springs, Fla. Tropical Storm Debby raked the Tampa Bay area with high wind and heavy rain Monday in a drenching that could top 2 feet over the next few days and trigger widespread flooding. less

Photo: AP

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People look at a large sinkhole near Jonesville Park Monday, June 25, 2012, in Jonesville, Fla.

Photo: AP

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A car sits in a giant sinkhole in Duluth, Minn. Wednesday, June 20, 2011. Residents evacuated their homes and animals escaped from pens at a zoo as floods fed by a steady torrential downpour struck northeastern Minnesota, inundating the city of Duluth, officials said. (AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Brian Peterson)
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Photo: AP

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A car fell into a huge sinkhole in Duluth, Minn. on Wednesday, June 20, 2012.

Photo: AP

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A man inspects a sinkhole formed in a house on July 19, 2011, north of Guatemala City. When neighbors heard the loud boom overnight they thought a cooking gas canister had detonated. Instead they found a deep sinkhole the size of a large pot inside a home under a woman's bed. The sinkhole was 40 feet deep and 32 inches in diameter. Police, members of the country's natural disaster office and water utility company officials came to visit the site. Sinkholes, formed by the natural process of erosion, can be gradual but are often sudden. Guatemala City, built on volcanic deposits, is especially prone to sinkholes, often blamed on a leaky sewer system or on heavy rain. JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/Getty Images less

Photo: 2011 AFP

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A man inspects a sinkhole inside a house on July 19, 2011, north of Guatemala City. The sinkhole was 40 feet deep and 32 inches in diameter. JOHAN ORDONEZ/AFP/Getty Images

Photo: 2011 AFP

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A giant sinkhole opened in Shoreline, north of Seattle, at the intersection of Northwest 175th Street and Sixth Avenue Northwest on New Year's Eve 1996. It was caused by a sewer line break.

Photo: Mike Urban

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Ed Heavey, project geotechnical engineer for reconstruction, takes a photo of the sinkhole in Shoreline, north of Seattle, that opened on Dec. 31, 1996. Water released from a broken sewer pipe washed away the glacial sand under the road. less

Photo: Grant M. Haller / Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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A Seattle City Light crew removes a utility pole left hanging in midair after a sinkhole swallowed the intersection at Northwest 175th Street and Sixth Avenue Northwest in Shoreline on New Year's Eve 1996.

Photo: Grant M. Haller / Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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Vice President Al Gore walks past a giant sinkhole in Shoreline on Jan. 10, 1997, during his inspection of damage from recent storms in the West. At Gore's side is Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) less

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Under the University Bridge, city utility employees look over the scene where a water main break created a sinkhole that washed away two vehicles in Seattle on Wednesday, May 2, 2007.

Photo: By Dan DeLong, SEATTLE P-I

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A neighbor checks out one of three large sinkholes to appear in an Everett, Wash., neighborhood on June 6, 1999.

Photo: Scott Eklund/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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From left, Garrick Hopkins, Dick Gabrielson and Bob Lucas of Seattle Public Utilities talk about ways to fill a growing sinkhole on Orcas Street near 30th Avenue South in Seattle on Tuesday August 24, 2004. A high volume of water from recent rains combined with aging pipes caused the sewage and rainwater pipe to burst, eroding the ground under the road. The hole appeared when a car driving on the road punched through the pavement. Joshua Trujillo/ Seattle P-I less

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A small car sits in a huge sinkhole on John Muir Drive in San Francisco Sunday, Jan. 18, 1998. Stopped-up sewers caused flooding, and when Harlan Edelman left his car on the side of the road to walk home and wait out the storm, he returned later to find it in a pit. (AP Photo/Joaquin Siopack) less

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Utility workers examine the scene of a car caught in a sinkhole caused by a broken water main, which collapsed part of Friendship Blvd. on December 3, 2010 in Chevy Chase, Maryland. No one was reported injured in the accident. less

Photo: Logan Mock-Bunting

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A car sits in a sinkhole caused by a broken water main, which collapsed part of Friendship Blvd. on December 3, 2010 in Chevy Chase, Maryland. No one was reported injured in the accident.

Photo: 2010 Getty Images

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A woman walks her dog past a car caught in a sinkhole caused by a broken water main, which collapsed part of Friendship Blvd. on December 3, 2010 in Chevy Chase, Maryland. No one was reported injured in the accident. less

Photo: Logan Mock-Bunting

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Workers use excavators to fill in a sinkhole which occurred overnight on Shiliuzhuang road, in Beijing on April 26, 2011. A section of the road collapsed beneath a truck, slightly injuring the driver and a passenger, who both jumped out the vehicle before it sank into the hole, as an authority suspects the hole was caused by the construction of a subway line. less

Photo: 2011 AFP

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A truck lies in a sinkhole which occurred overnight on Shiliuzhuang road, in Beijing on April 26, 2011. A section of the road collapsed beneath a truck, slightly injuring the driver and a passenger, who both jumped out the vehicle before it sank into the hole, as an authority suspects the hole was caused by the construction of a subway line. less

Photo: 2011 AFP

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Workers block off the site of a sinkhole which occurred overnight on Shiliuzhuang road, in Beijing on April 26, 2011. A section of the road collapsed beneath a truck, slightly injuring the driver and a passenger, who both jumped out the vehicle before it sank into the hole, as an authority suspects the hole was caused by the construction of a subway line. less

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A 22-ton Los Angeles Fire Department fire truck protrudes from a sinkhole on September 8, 2009 in the Valley Village neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Firefighters were dispatched to investigate an early morning call about flooding on a residential street when the driver saw a large amount of water in the darkness. The driver was backing up when the truck fell into the sinkhole, apparently caused by a broken 6-inch cast iron pipe. The firefighters were not hurt in the accident. Officials have not yet determined if the break is related to a broken 95-year-old 64-inch pipe in neighboring Studio city.
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Photo: David McNew

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A Los Angeles fire truck is pulled from a sinkhole in the Valley Village neighborhood of Los Angeles Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009. Four firefighters escaped injury early Tuesday after their fire engine sunk into a large hole caused by a broken water main in the San Fernando Valley, authorities said. less

Photo: Nick Ut, AP

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A 22-ton Los Angeles Fire Department fire truck protrudes from a sinkhole on September 8, 2009 in the Valley Village neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

Photo: David McNew, Getty Images

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Trucks are stuck in the rubble of the collapsed 'Pinheiros' subway station in Sao Paulo, Brazil on January 15, 2007. Brazilian officials said a passenger minivan had fallen to the bottom of a 130-foot deep pit dug to facilitate delivery of supplies for workers building an underground railway line. The lip of the hole gave way to a landslide, taking with it vehicles on a roadway around the edge and dumping tons of dirt, asphalt and concrete on top of them. less

Photo: 2007 AFP

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A sports utility vehicle is stuck in a sinkhole in the Brooklyn section of New York after a water main break caused the street to give way Monday, March 27, 2006. The driver of the vehicle was not seriously injured, according to the fire department. less

Photo: SHIHO FUKADA, AP

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Workers watch flood waters pour into a construction site that turned into a sinkhole Wednesday, Dec. 29, 2004, in the Sun Valley section of Los Angeles. A powerful Pacific storm that bore floods, mudslides and record-breaking rainfall sent another pulse across Southern California early Wednesday, as Northern California prepared for another front expected to bring heavy snow and high winds to the Sierra Nevada and much of Eastern California. less

Photo: NICK UT, AP

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Yvonne Leal hugs her husband, Cosme Leal III, after he climbed to safety when his truck was swallowed by a sinkhole Wednesday morning, June 9, 2004, in Corpus Christi, Texas. A ruptured water main caused the roadway to break open. less

Photo: MIKE BAIRD, AP

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Workers and onlookers Wednesday at a sinkhole that opened up on a four-lane Mexico City street. The sink hole, said to be caused by rain waters and a broken underground drainage pipe, opened up late Tuesday Sept. 14 , 2004, on Benjamin Franklin Street. Dane Schiller/Staff less

Photo: DANE SCHILLER, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS

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A 40-foot deep sinkhole still kept the road closed at the 8400 block of Tujunga Avenue in Sun Valley. One road worker fell into the sink hole and was killed.

Photo: Genaro Molina, Los Angeles Times

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A sinkhole covers a street intersection in downtown Guatemala City, Wednesday, June 2, 2010. Authorities blamed heavy rains caused by tropical storm Agatha as the cause of the crater that swallowed a a three-story building but now say they will be conducting further studies to determine the cause.

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Photo: The Associated Press

Perez said commuters should expect delays to continue all through rush hour and for most of the day. He encouraged commuters to seek an alternative route.

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Perez said at 6:30 that crews were en route to make repairs to the U.S. 59 bridge deck where the pothole opened up.

He said wear over time was the possible culprit for the pothole, often due to weather or the concrete materials loosening and breaking apart. Often, he said, TxDOT is able to prevent these types of holes through maintenance but occasionally falls behind.

Since the pothole is on an elevated bridge, Perez said repairs will not be simple, and that TxDOT will have to hire contractors to get the job done. Normally, he said, TxDOT workers can simply come out and pour some "hot mix"--consisting of asphalt material--into the hole to quickly close it up. But this isn't possible on bridges, he said.

"They know what they have to do at this point, but it's not going to be a simple repair," Perez said. "It's going to be a more extensive repair. In this case, with a bridge, you can't just drop hot mix into the hole."

Police were on scene directing traffic, the Houston Police Department said.

Transtar warned of an 11-minute delay and reported traffic moving at just 11 miles per hour as of 6:45 a.m.