Averting a washout on Lincoln Drive

Blame last year's unusually wet weather.

In August and September, Philadelphia recorded 29.6 inches of rain - that's 70 percent of the annual rainfall in only two months.

After Tropical Storm Lee in September, city engineers made a disturbing discovery along Monoshone Creek: A century-old stone retaining wall had dropped more than five inches.

Not only that, but it was starting to rotate away from land, and rushing water had carved out gaps underneath the wall.

"The wall was beginning to collapse," Perri said.

The Streets Department knew it had to act fast - but just how fast didn't become clear until engineers started to prepare the wall for repairs in November.

They discovered that Lincoln Drive was not sitting on rock.

It was sitting on soil.

That meant that if the retaining wall had collapsed, it would have taken the road with it, Perri said.

"We needed to move fast," he said.

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Averting a washout on Lincoln Drive