I-4 lanes won't be fixed until after this weekend

Those three lanes that have been shut down on Interstate 4 since Tuesday, creating a traffic nightmare? Well, they're going to be shut down at least until Monday.

The Department of Transportation has taken pains not to give a timetable for when the road will be fixed, saying crews are working as hard as they can and trying to assess the extent of the problem. A 2-inch deep dip in the eastbound lane extends for about 24 feet; DOT isn't sure yet if it's caused by a sinkhole.

What DOT officials do know is that the three eastbound lanes won't be open through the weekend. Workers have used 400 cubic yards of concrete so far but still haven't been able to stabilize the road.

Thursday evening, DOT officials announced announced they don't expect the road to open any earlier than Monday, though they promised to "continually assess that timeframe.''

Making matters worse, one of the main alternative routes has fallen victim to the same situation.
Transportation officials had been urging eastbound I-4 motorists to take alternative routes, like State Road 574 or State Road 60 or U.S. 92.

Thursday, U.S. 92 was shut down by state transportation officials who said they suspected a depression forming on the highway near Plant City. It became the 21st depression or sinkhole reported in eastern Hillsborough County this week, according to the sheriff's office.

U.S. 92, or Baker Street, was closed between Turkey Creek and Thonotosassa roads. Traffic is being detoured onto State Road 574, or Reynolds Street, officials said, to get around the problem.

The suggested detour for traffic eastbound on U.S. 92 is to head south on Turkey Creek Road to SR 574; then east to Alexander Street and north to U.S. 92.

The route for westbound traffic on U.S. 92 is to head south on Alexander Street, west on SR 574 to Turkey Creek Road and north to U.S. 92.

Transportation engineers were at the spot Thursday inspecting what was described as unusual cracks in the road, said DOT spokeswoman Marian Scorza. She called the fissures "longitudinal cracks," that may be an indicator of a depression forming under the pavement. Initially, only the westbound lanes were closed, but by mid afternoon, engineers decided to close the road in both directions.

"It's for the safety of the motorists," Scorza said. How long U.S. 92, or Interstate 4, will be closed is uncertain because engineers do not yet know how much concrete it will take to fill the holes and cracks, she said.

So far, work crews have used about 400 cubic yards of concrete for I-4 repairs, Scorza said.

The closure of the interstate lanes had resulted in increased traffic on adjacent roads including U.S. 92, which runs parallel to the interstate. DOT officials now say their prediction that the situation on Interstate 4 will be back to normal by the weekend may have changed.

At Parkesdale Farm Market, 3702 W. Baker St. and famous for its strawberry shortcake, many motorists were making the best of the delay. Jim Meeks, owner of the market, said he was doing a brisk business.

"It appears people get here and can't get out so they stay," Meeks said.

Roger Brandt, who was visiting from Nebraska, said traffic was slow once he reached U.S. 92 and Ritter Street, where the pavement buckled, but one lane was getting by. He didn't let the congestion deter him, joking that he "came all the way from Nebraska," to enjoy the shortcake at Parkesdale.

"We had no problems until we hit the sinkhole (area)," he said.

The sinkhole was reported near Tomlin Middle School, not far from the Florida Strawberry Festival grounds.

It likely will take longer than a few days to fix Interstate 4, where two of the three eastbound lanes were shut down after a 24-foot-wide depression formed near Branch Forbes Road.

"We really don't know," when the road will be opened, said Marian Scorza, spokeswoman with the Florida Department of Transportation. She said five holes were drilled around the depression and concrete poured into the holes in an attempt to shore up the sinking earth beneath the buckled pavement.

"We've had to drill holes around the depression," she said. "We are pouring concrete in them." She said that by the time workers had filled up all five holes, the concrete in the first hole had disappeared into the ground, meaning the process may take more time - and expense - than initially expected.

Just how much it will cost to repair the roads is unknown.

"We don't even have a ballpark estimate yet," Scorza said.

The depression has caused a two-inch buckle in the road surface that is about 24 feet wide. The sinkholes and depressions have formed in a 110-square-mile area around Plant City and Dover, where strawberry farmers have drawn down the aquifer by spraying their crops in sub-freezing morning temperatures. The draw-down is believed to have caused the rash of sinkholes and earthen depressions in the region.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers are making sure the flow of traffic through the bottleneck and along adjacent routes is running smoothly, said Sgt. Larry Kraus.

"It's going to be one lane on I-4. If you can take an alternate route, then take it," Kraus said.

With an estimated 47,000 vehicles a day using eastbound I-4, transportation officials have urged motorists to use alternate routes including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, State Road 60 and Thonotosassa Road.

Sinkholes have also caused the closure of numerous other roads in the Plant City area, along with a two-mile stretch of U.S. 27 between State Road 60 and County Road 640 in Polk County.

The I-4 entrance ramp at Alexander Street reopened Wednesday night. A sinkhole 15 feet from the ramp that measured 12 feet in diameter and 10 feet deep was stabilized with dirt and the ramp was reopened just after 11 p.m. Wednesday, Scorza said.

Some businesses that rely on interstate traffic are feeling the effects of the lane closure this week as motorists find alternate routes that divert them from the businesses.

Becky Bullard runs Forbes Road Produce on Branch Forbes Road. She blames three factors for the lull in business: the economy, the weather and the depression on the interstate.

"I'm sure it's affecting it some," she said of the traffic diversion. "A lot of people are scared to get off, not knowing what they're facing getting back on."

Hazel Pippin works at a nearby convenience store on U.S. 92. She's noticed the increase in traffic. Motorists are stopping, but mostly to ask directions or use the restroom, she said.

"A lot of people coming in," she said, "didn't know which way to go or where to go."