Motorists had close calls with Millbrook Road collapse

RALEIGH, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Crews are working reopen a stretch of Millbrook Road in North Raleigh after part of the road collapsed. Workers were seen excavating the ground Thursday to put in a new sewer line.

Millbrook is closed from North Hills Drive to Lead Mine Road.

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William Shore, an eyewitness, says he watched drivers roll over the massive hole before police put up barriers.

"I saw a couple cars almost wreck going over the hole," he said. "I saw a car go in and sort of hit it and pop out of it and kept driving."

Shore says a city bus swerved out of the way just in time.

RELATED: Millbrook Road repair to take 4 days, City of Raleigh says

"It was around a blind curve, so if cars were going any faster than 50 it's going to be a problem for them to stop," he said.

ABC11 has learned a Raleigh Deputy Fire Marshal was driving along Millbrook when the road gave way. He immediately pulled over and started detouring drivers. The Fire Marshal use his city-owned vehicle as a barrier.

"We're glad that someone did prevent traffic from continuing to go over it," said Raleigh Environmental Coordinator Ed Buchan.

Nobody was hurt and it's something that still surprised Shore.

"I thought the rest of the road was going to collapse. There was almost no support for the other side of the road when looking at the hole," Shore said.

Officials are hoping to reopen the road Monday and say there were already plans to replace the sewer line, which dates to the 1960s.