This Is What Happens When Small Cracks In A Road Suddenly Grow Larger

It's not uncommon for major roads to take a hit after a big earthquake, but it's pretty spectacular when a road starts sinking a week after a moderate earthquake and then just crumbles away. But that's exactly what happened on a toll road in Mexico over the weekend.

U-T San Diego reports the road collapsed sometime on Saturday, a week after a 4.6-magnitude earthquake hit the area, although a link between the two events hasn't been proven yet. No one was injured, though, when the 300-yard stretch of road broke apart about 10 miles south of Ensenada. It was reported that a series of cracks that had accumulated recently suddenly opened up and caused the road to cave in towards the ocean.


While there is another road that causes a roughly 30-mile detour to get to popular tourist destinations like Ensenada, some say a road closure of up to a year could spell doom for small towns along that road that also receive a large number of cruise ships.

Photo: Afn/Handout/EPA