Christmas Songbook 2013
Carolling classics INSIDE
Celebrating
1988
n’s Seaseoetings! Gr
Home reno Playwright turns deck building into one-man show. PAGE 33 Mariners win VIU’s basketball squads staying calm under pressure. PAGE 37 Coastal Living Nanaimo struggling to find right industry for Duke Point. PAGE 14
2013
Years
www.nanaimobulletin.com
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2013
VOL. 25, NO. 69
www.countryclubcentre.com
City on the hunt for mine shafts I
COLLAPSE ON Pine Street leads to survey of underground tunnels.
are on private property, they say it becomes a municipal concern when tunnels are shallow and voids open close to the surface in public areas. Shallow caverns have the potential to create sinkBY TAMARA CUNNINGHAM holes. THE NEWS BULLETIN The issue is a worry for politicians, who have called on staff The discovery of a two-storey members to launch a city-wide deep mine collapse beneath a search for potentially dangerous south Nanaimo road has city offi- and weakened tunnels beneath cials on the hunt for other poten- roads. tial weak spots in its network of Ruttan said the hope is the underground coal tunnels. City of Nanaimo can identify and Nanaimo city staff members will address risks before they become be reviewing coal a public hazard or maps and testing an expensive bursoil beneath roads den on taxpayers. for mine tunnels Previously the at high risk of col- REMEDIATION WORK to city checked for lapse, according to signs of sinkholes fix a two-storey deep Mayor John Ruttan, on local roads and mine collapse at Pine who said the safety drilled near infraStreet will cost City of issues and costs of structure work to Nanaimo $240,000. the Pine Street mine ensure there were The shallow mine shaft collapse have been no collapsed mines, was found during drilling an eye opener for but only took for a utility upgrade local officials. action on issues it in the area in early The new action could see. October. comes on the heels “Until something of an announcement that city catastrophic happens like this, workers are about to start an suddenly [it’s] when people say estimated $240,000 in remedia- ‘Oh my God, maybe we better do tion work on a developing sink- a review of what we’ve got there hole found a couple of metres and what the risks are there’,” beneath Pine Street. he said of the reason for the new The multi-staged plan, six approach. weeks in the making, is expected The coal void beneath south to provide a roadmap for future Nanaimo’s Pine Street was dismine repairs. covered during preparation According to city staff mem- work for a sewer and water line bers, Nanaimo’s abandoned 19th replacement, triggering the temcentury mines are slowly disin- porary closure of the street Oct. tegrating, leaving voids beneath 10. the surface. While most mines ◆ See ‘MINE’ /6
Quickfacts
Co-worker hangout
Brent Scott, left, Kelly McKen and Ernie Wong are lowered into the Nanaimo River canyon to check the structural condition of the northbound lane bridge on the Island Highway, while Graeme Tasker and Rees Davidson maintain safety watch topside Wednesday morning. The men, with the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and McElhanney engineering firm, travel around B.C. carrying out detailed bridge safety inspections. CHRIS BUSH/THE NEWS BULLETIN
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