Council ratifies emergency replacement project as Public Works begins planning additional storm drain upgrades in Lexington Hills.
Nearly three months after a dramatic sinkhole opened beneath Prewett Drive and forced the emergency closure of a neighborhood roadway, the Folsom City Council has formally ratified more than $269,000 in emergency repair work that replaced the failed storm drain responsible for the collapse.
The unanimous action, approved during Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, officially ratified emergency contracts that had already been executed following the April 12 incident while appropriating funds to cover the completed work. Although the repairs were finished shortly after the sinkhole appeared, city policy requires the City Council to ratify emergency contracts exceeding established spending limits.
The action also closes the chapter on one of Folsom’s most visible infrastructure failures in recent years while signaling that additional underground storm drain improvements may be on the horizon for the Lexington Hills neighborhood.
The sinkhole developed on the morning of April 12 near the intersection of Prewett Drive and Newington Way after a large section of the city’s underground storm drain system collapsed beneath the roadway. Public Works crews quickly responded after the roadway began to fail, immediately securing the area with steel plates while engineers assessed the damage.
According to city documents, crews determined that approximately 80 feet of 48-inch diameter spun aluminum storm drain pipe had collapsed beneath the street. The failed pipe, originally installed during development of the Lexington Hills neighborhood in the late 1990s, created a significant underground void that posed an immediate threat to motorists and public safety.
Recognizing the urgency of the situation, City Manager Bryan Whitemyer authorized emergency procurement under Chapter 2.36 of the Folsom Municipal Code, which allows the city to immediately contract for emergency construction work when there is a threat to public health, welfare or safety.
Rather than waiting weeks for the traditional bidding process, the city contacted Doug Veerkamp General Engineering Inc., the top-ranked contractor from Folsom’s recently established on-call contractor list, to begin repairs immediately. Dewberry Inc. was retained to provide construction management and inspection services throughout the project.
The emergency work involved far more than replacing a damaged section of pipe.
Contractors excavated the collapsed roadway, removed the failed storm drain, installed approximately 80 feet of new replacement pipe, rebuilt the compromised roadway foundation and completed paving work through the intersection with a grind-and-overlay to restore the roadway to safe driving conditions.
Images included in the council’s staff report illustrate the extent of the damage, showing a massive cavity beneath the pavement where the storm drain had failed. Additional construction photos document the extensive excavation and reconstruction required before traffic could safely return to the area.
The total emergency repair project cost reached $269,343. The construction contract with Doug Veerkamp General Engineering totaled $253,197, while construction management services provided by Dewberry Inc. added another $16,146. The repairs are being funded through the city’s Gas Tax 2105 Fund, which officials said has sufficient available reserves to absorb the emergency expense without affecting other planned transportation projects.
While replacing the failed storm drain resolved the immediate problem, city engineers say the incident exposed a broader infrastructure concern beneath the surrounding neighborhood.
Following completion of the emergency repairs, Public Works staff inspected the remaining storm drain system extending in all directions from the failed section. Although those inspections found the existing pipes to be stable, engineers determined portions of the aging system have deteriorated enough to warrant future replacement.
As a result, the Public Works Department has already begun developing a larger capital improvement project to replace additional storm drain mainlines throughout the Lexington Hills neighborhood before similar failures occur. City documents indicate the project is currently in the planning stages, although no construction schedule or cost estimate has yet been announced.
The emergency repair project also qualified for an exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act because it addressed an immediate threat to public safety, allowing crews to move forward without the standard environmental review required for most public works projects.
Tuesday night’s action did not authorize any new construction. Instead, it formally ratified the emergency contracts executed by the City Manager earlier this year and appropriated the funds necessary to pay for the completed work.
For many residents who witnessed the sinkhole and subsequent road closure in April, the council’s action represents the final administrative step in restoring the damaged roadway. At the same time, it underscores a growing challenge facing communities throughout California as underground infrastructure installed decades ago begins reaching the end of its service life.
With planning now underway for additional storm drain replacements in Lexington Hills, city officials hope proactive investment in aging infrastructure can help prevent future failures before they become emergency situations.
Copyright © 2026, Folsom Times, a digital product of All Town Media LLC. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
