Ilsa Minor Daily Press A portion of sidewalk in downtown Escanaba collapsed into an old steam tunnel Wednesday. The collapse left a hole about seven to eight feet deep on the 1100 block of Ludington Street.

ESCANABA — A section of sidewalk on Ludington Street collapsed Wednesday, revealing the inside of a tunnel once used to pump steam-heat to buildings in the heart of downtown Escanaba.

The hole was opened when Radio Results Network Operations Manager Mike Daniels brought his pickup truck onto the sidewalk outside the RRN Media Plaza at 1101 Ludington Street to drop off a load of sidewalk salt. While the truck was on the sidewalk, the front driverside tire broke through the pavement and into the steam tunnel below.

The hole appeared to be 7 to 8 feet deep.

City crews used a crane to remove the truck and blocked off much of the sidewalk around the front of the building, which is cracked and sagging into the tunnel.

According to Daniels, the city intends to remove the other damaged sections of sidewalk to prevent any future cave-ins, fill the tunnel, compact the fill material and then pave a new section of sidewalk in front of the building.

Newer sidewalk near the cave-in was constructed over tunnel that had already been filled in by the city.