Whitney Downard / The Meridian StarThe storm water culvert that collapsed next to the IHOP on North Frontage Road in Meridian in late 2015 has been replaced with a concrete box. Earlier this week, grass grew over the the site of the collapse.  

After spending nearly $3.5 million on new construction to fix the “IHOP sinkhole” that made national headlines in November of 2015, crews finished building a replacement structure in May, but questions remain about the cause of the collapse. 

The incident occurred when a section of the restaurant’s parking lot collapsed and swallowed 14 cars. Officials later determined it was not caused by a sinkhole. 

Hugh Smith, the City of Meridian’s Public Works director, said his department had some theories, ranging from excessive weight on the site during construction and the deterioration of the structure. 

A report on the collapse from a private engineering company has yet to be completed. 

“Nothing’s been ruled out,” Smith said. “It may be multiple variables.”

The $3,486,627 project, contracted to Malouf Construction, was covered with a $4.3 million grant from the National Resource Conservation Service, with the remaining grant money spent on designs, inspections and materials from the immediate response, according to Smith.

Smith credited former U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran and other Mississippi representatives for pushing through the legislative action to award the grant to Meridian, following the national media attention.

“The city was mostly responsible for the initial stabilization and preliminary engineering,” Smith said.

These actions, which included removing the vehicles from the hole, provided estimates for the total cost of the project so the city could apply for the grant.

“The return on that (work) was getting the grant itself,” Smith said.

Smith said that the previous super span structure funnelled fresh water from the Bonita basin, an area covering Bonita Lakes, the Bonita Lakes Mall to Sam’s Club, to the Sowashee Creek.

Made of out galvanized steel plates, workers crafted the structure, technically too big to qualify as a pipe, on-site in an elliptical shape sometime between 1999-2001, Smith said. 

“It took a few months to build it,” said Smith, who started working with the city in 1996. “We put the (super span structure) in to increase the industrial, commercial value of the area.” 

The Waggoner Engineering Group, of Jackson, did the preliminary designs and construction of its replacement, finishing the construction of the concrete box earlier this year.

Though the super span structure and concrete box have similar functions, the decision to go with the concrete box came down to funding, Smith said.

“That came in as the lowest (cost) and best option,” Smith said. “We gain durability and gain functionality.”

In addition to the super span structure, concrete box or a hybrid of the two, engineers could have reverted back to an open ditch, adding concrete sidewalks. 

The concrete box and super span structure are similar sizes but the concrete box will require little to no maintenance, other than checking for blockages at the site. Additionally, the concrete box will have a higher weight-carrying capacity for whatever the land owners choose to build in the future (though the city maintains a construction easement to access the structure).  

“For the services and budget we had, I’m very pleased with the structure in place,” Smith said.