Massive Alton, Illinois sinkhole swallows light pole

ALTON, Ill. – Security video from Gordon F. Moore Community Park shows a sinkhole open up at the soccer fields and swallow a massive light pole.

The list of headaches this is already causing is on a whole other level.

“At the surface, it was all at once,” Michael Haynes, director of Alton Parks & Recreation, said. “It all went. Actually, one of our lights was in the middle and it’s all gone.”

Haynes said mines below fields three and four began having issues beneath the ground, causing the sinkhole around 8:30 a.m.

New Frontier Materials, a quarry that was mining underneath the park, sent engineers on Wednesday to assess the situation.

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Haynes was told crews were mining 150 feet below the soccer fields. He estimates the drop in the sinkhole to be about 50 feet or deeper and 100 feet wide. The park will rely on geologists and engineers to come up with a plan moving forward.

Matt Barkett, spokesperson for New Frontier Materials, released a statement Wednesday stating, “We will work with the city to remediate this issue as quickly and safely as possible to ensure minimal impact on the community.”

Another photography company, 618 Drone Service, captured the scene and shared it on social media in the aftermath.

The park’s new, $1.2 million artificial turf was just installed in 2018.

With barricades and police on site making sure to keep onlookers away, one thing is clear: these fields and parking lots are going to be closed for some time.

“The rest of the park is open,” Haynes said. “Just not the parking lots around the soccer field. The rest of the ball diamonds and golf course will remain open.”

No injuries were reported.

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