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Sinkhole opens up outside Sinkhole Saloon & Grille in North Londonderry Township

NORTH LONDONDERRY TOWNSHIP, LEBANON COUNTY, Pa. — A sinkhole opening up on a business in part of Lebanon County prompts some people in the community to sa...

NORTH LONDONDERRY TOWNSHIP, LEBANON COUNTY, Pa. -- A sinkhole opening up on a business in part of Lebanon County prompts some people in the community to say "not again."

The hole is at the Sinkhole Saloon & Grille and Palmyra Bowling Center in North Londonderry Township.

"Not another sinkhole," said Amy Eiserman, a co-owner of Sinkhole Saloon. "But we are in Palmyra, and we aptly named our restaurant the Sinkhole Saloon."

It's in an area famous for limestone. When water infiltrates the limestone below the ground, experts say it can cause these sinkholes.

"This area is famous for it, and the area is ripe for sinkholes," said Greg Penny, a spokesman for PennDOT.

Right now, customers can't access the east entrance into the saloon and bowling center, and multiple parking spots are blocked off.

"It's dipping over a stormwater runoff drain, and it's out on the roadway, so it doesn't just effect us it effects the whole town," added Eiserman.

Part of Route 422 Eastbound outside the Saloon is closed too. That is a road traveled by nearly 16,000 people daily, according to Penny. There is a detour in place, and Penny says officials will continue monitoring the situation. Right now, fixing it is a shared responsibility between the township, the business owners, and PennDOT.

"Basically, we're responsible for what's in the right away so that's our responsibility of the repairs that will go here, and the property owners are responsible for what's on their property, and we'll have to work on some type of arrangement if we go that way," said Penny.

As for the Sinkhole Saloon, Eiserman says the name's definitely fitting.

"We never realized we maybe jinxed ourselves naming it that, with all the trouble in the road, " she said.

Geological experts will be out tomorrow to survey the hole. Officials say they don't know when this part of Route 422 East will reopen, and there's a chance west bound could close too. There are no estimates on the cost at this point.

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