The bill to taxpayers for sinkholes cratering eastern Hillsborough County keeps rising.
County commissioners agreed Thursdayto add $2 million to a contract for stabilizing sinkholes.
The addition brings the county fund to repair sinkholes to $2.6 million as the Public Works Department deals with 14 sinkholes on county roads.
The Southwest Florida Water Management District is investigating reports of 45 sinkholes in the Dover and Plant City area.
The county money is in addition to $300,000 the state Department of Transportation spent to repair a 24-foot-wide depression that closed three lanes of Interstate 4 over four days last week and to fix an entrance ramp to the interstate.
The county's original two-year contract with the engineering firm of Ardaman & Associates was for $300,000 and increased to $600,000 last year.
The county spent nearly $600,000 last year to repair eight sinkholes on county roads.
The eastbound lane of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is one of the latest roads affected by the rash of sinkholes that appeared after strawberry farmers pumped from the aquifer for days to prevent crops from freezing.
DOT crews are directing traffic on the single open lane of State Road 574 just west of Valrico Road. The Department of Transportation closed part of the road late Wednesday to repair a depression in the pavement.
The DOT said drivers can use U.S. 92 as an alternate route.
On Thursday, crews finished repairing a suspected sinkhole on the I-4 eastbound exit ramp at Branch Forbes Road near Plant City. The ramp reopened in the late afternoon.
Residents who see sinkholes forming that could affect county roads should call (813) 635-5400.
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