All lanes reopened by 10:15 p.m. as crews finish filling holes but more study overnight Sunday

Traveling on Interstate 75 between Archer and Williston roads is an adventure in itself, but the addition of a sinkhole made it a bit more wild late Friday afternoon.

The sinkhole opened in the southbound emergency lane just north of Williston Road around 4:30 p.m. It was about a foot wide when an Alachua County sheriff’s deputy first laid eyes on it, but asphalt kept crumbling and faling in until the hole was about 10 feet wide and 12 to 15 feet deep.

Then a second sinkhole caved in about 60 feet away in the grass right of way, this one with water cascading down the bank.

Two lanes were blocked for several hours while the damage was assessed by crews from the Florida Department of Transportation.

“We’re looking at it and trying to figure out what needs to be done,” said DOT district spokeswoman Tracy Hisler-Pace at about 5 p.m. “We don’t know yet how long it will take to fix it.”

But less than five hours later, FDOT crews were in the final stages of filling in the sinkholes. Ground penetrating radar was used to make sure the area beneath the lanes was not compromised, according to Tracy Hisler-Pace, spokesperson for FDOT, in a news release at 9:45 p.m.

Additional testing will resume Sunday evening beginning at 9 and continue to 5 a.m. Monday morning to take core samples of the roadway. During that period, the outside lane be closed.

Hisler-Pace said at 10:15 p.m. that all lanes of I-75 had reopened.

The main sinkhole had tunneled a bit toward the outside traffic lane but DOT personnel at the scene said early Friday evening that it seems to have stabilized.

With just one lane open, traffic inched along as the evening commute was underway. Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Patrick Riordan said a decision on when to reopen lanes will be made after the DOT assessment is complete.

“Traffic certainly is heavy southbound. It probably will remain so until the Department of Transportation figures out what they have here — what type of scenario they have environmentally and what they can do about the sinkhole,” Riordan said. “Until they have a plan, we’re still looking at these roads being backed up. Any other road that people could travel south on — for instance U.S. 441 — it would be a good option to take those roads.”

Riordan said he had no reports of any crashes caused by traffic slowing or motorists rubber-necking as they passed by the sinkhole zone, which was filled with FHP troopers, sheriff’s deputies and DOT personnel.

Sinkholes often happen in Florida under the weather pattern the region has experienced lately — a period of dryness followed by days of lots of rain. The heave water causes the surface to collapse into voids in the underground limestone.

The past week has seen 4.5 inches of rain fall in Gainesville, with 9.6 inches so far in June, according to the National Weather Service.

Sinkholes are more common in western Alachua County because of its limestone karst geology than the eastern half, which has a thick layer of clay beneath the surface.

Larger sinkholes are generally repaired by excavating down to stable bedrock and then filling the hole with rock, gravel, dirt or other material.