A sinkhole swallowed a Seward Highway lane, and that lane is closed for a month

A sinkhole has opened in the northbound New Seward Highway at Potter Marsh, and it will take a month to fix.

The hole took out the left northbound lane near mile 117, at Anchorage's southern doorstep, where the highway runs along the edge of the coastal wildlife refuge. Every vehicle coming into the city from Girdwood, Turnagain Arm, and the Kenai Peninsula passes through that stretch — in the middle of the busiest travel weeks of the year.

State transportation crews closed the lane Thursday morning and have gone to round-the-clock drainage maintenance, seven days a week, with the lane scheduled to reopen August 24. The department rates the closure major severity, its highest tier.