UPDATE: New Route 80 sinkhole expands to road collapse after testing: 'No easy fix'

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11-02-2025

A sinkhole that closed all eastbound lanes of Route 80 Monday morning has progressed to a full road collapse that "is not going to be an easy fix," state Sen. Anthony Bucco, R-Morris, said Monday night.
Bucco visited the site Monday morning with New Jersey Department of Transportation Director Francis O'Connor and Morris County Sheriff James Gannon, where DOT workers were hopeful repairs could be done in time to reopen the busy highway for the morning commute.
Later in the day, "The NJDOT brought soil boring equipment in to verify the structural safety of the road, and unfortunately, the road collapsed when the borings were being taken," Bucco told the Daily Record. "So this is not going to be an easy fix, as they had thought."
The sinkhole is located just to the east of a four-story-deep cavity that collapsed the side of the road in December, closing part of the highway for four days.
Rerouting: Take these detours to avoid the Route 80 traffic caused by sinkhole repairs
Described at first as a "depression," this latest sinkhole was first spotted by State Police at 6:45 a.m. in the middle of the roadway, forcing the closure of all eastbound lanes at Exit 34 in Wharton as crews conducted emergency repairs. Traffic was diverted to local roads, causing significant delays.
"The key thing here is that the DOT did the right thing by continuing to test the structural integrity of the road," Bucco said. "They discovered that this was, in fact, a mine shaft, not just a depression as they had hoped."
He also says more testing needs to be done to assess the potential danger of more sinkholes or road collapses in a region where the mining industry thrived in the 19th century.
"It's kind of scary because these mineshafts run throughout there, and we've got to make sure that where they do open up, they are capped adequately so they can withstand the impact of traffic on those highways," Bucco said. "We have to stay ahead of this before it becomes a bigger problem."
Bucco added they'll have to make sure to avoid major traffic issues from the detours onto other areas. "I told the commissioner they have to find a way to keep that traffic off the local roads," he said.
The highway will remain closed until further notice. Motorists are being detoured at Exit 34, but officials advise using Exit 28 to take Route 46 eastbound or Route 10 eastbound to avoid the affected area.
The department has provided alternative routes, including:
Route 46 east: Drivers can exit at Route 46 eastbound at Exit 28 and follow signs for Route 10 or Route 15 to reconnect with Route 80.
Route 80 east detour: Motorists are directed off at Exit 34 to Route 15, then to North Main Street and back onto Route 15 south before reentering 80 eastbound.
Electronic message signs are alerting drivers to the closure, and officials urge motorists to check 511nj.org for real-time traffic updates. The timeline for repairs remains uncertain, and traffic delays are expected in the area.
Motorists should expect delays in the area and monitor traffic updates.
The sinkhole comes less than two months after a huge sinkhole in Wharton closed part of the highway for days. That sinkhole was roughly the size and depth of a four-story building and kept the highway closed for four days.
It was found to have been caused by the collapse of an abandoned mineshaft, leading to days of delays and detours for motorists.
There are a number of mines in the area, Bucco said. Officials will keep that in mind as they repair the latest sinkhole.
"They'll do some milling to get down to make sure the ground is stable and if everything appears as it is shown on the radar, they should be able to regrout and pave it tonight and open up traffic again," Bucco said.
At the time of the December sinkhole, the Transportation Department said crews worked "around the clock" to complete the repairs as "quickly and safely as possible."
"I want to commend the outstanding efforts of the NJDOT and contractor crews that worked tirelessly to get Interstate 80 reopened quickly and safely for the motoring public," said Commissioner Fran O'Connor. "Given the extensive nature of the damage, it is truly remarkable the amount of work that was done in such a short amount of time."This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Route 80 sinkhole in NJexpands to road collapse after testing