The Mayor of Borba, Pedro Esteves, announced that a municipal employee discovered cavities while performing routine cleaning alongside a section of the highway. These cavities were found “in the road barrier,” specifically on the embankment slope.
“Since one of the holes is large and the other is very deep, we decided to temporarily halt traffic on the road for further investigation,” Esteves stated, adding that they have reached out to the University of Évora for technical support.
Esteves described one of the fissures as being “between one and a half to two meters in diameter,” while the other is described as being “about a meter in diameter, but quite deep, around six or seven meters.”
“We contacted all relevant entities, including the GNR, Infraestruturas de Portugal, and the firefighters, to keep them informed, and we’ll wait for technical advice before deciding when to reopen the road,” he remarked.
Highlighting that this section of the road is managed by the municipality, Esteves stressed that while the road does not appear to be in immediate danger of collapsing, he wants a technical assessment of its condition.
“Occasionally, incidents like this occur in our region due to the water tables in the municipality, but since we are not geology experts, we are seeking advice from those who are,” he emphasized.
When questioned further, the mayor refrained from providing an estimate for when the road might reopen to traffic.
Until then, access to the city of Borba is available via three existing entrances on National Highway 4 (EN4).
