Corvettes in Sinkhole Could take Three Months to Retrieve
Corvettes in Sinkhole Could take Three Months to Retrieve
Surveyors say it could take two to three months to get the sinkhole repaired at the National Corvette Museum and retrieve the eight Corvettes damaged in the natural disaster.
Mike Murphy, the CEO of the Kentucky-based building contractor Scott, Murphy & Daniel, which is working to reinforce the building, said figuring out the best way to remove the Corvettes from the sinkhole is a tedious process.
“We will have to do some stabilization of the soil in the banks around those cars before we go back down, and we will try to vacuum the dirt from around those cars and extract those cars from the earth,” explained Murphy in a WDRB news report.
According to the report, the biggest challenge will be retrieving the Corvettes that rest at the bottom of the sinkhole in three different layers depicted in the photo. The top cars are all visible, but the bottom cars are buried beneath the dirt. The second layer of cars are partially visible in the dirt.
Murphy said despite the damage caused by the sinkhole it could have been a lot worse.
“We were lucky the sinkhole occurred within the structure and not underneath the structure, so it is still intact and in good condition,” said Murphy.
During the repairs, the museum will continue to be open to the public with the sinkhole area being off limits, notes the WDRB report. At this point, it’s unclear whether this will impact the museum’s upcoming 20th anniversary plans for this summer, or whether it will delay the completion of the new race track scheduled to open this year at the facility.
To the relief of Corvette fans and others around the world who have been drawn to the story, GM issued a statement last week that it will restore the damaged cars.
