JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A gaping hole in the middle of a Springfield street has neighbors worried the entire road may eventually cave in unless the city steps in to make repairs.
UPDATE: Two days after this story aired the pothole was fixed.
At the corner of Liberty Street and 3rd Street, a single orange cone indicates where a 6-foot-by-4-foot hole in the pavement drops down to 2 feet deep.
"It's not a pothole anymore," said Springfield resident Victor LeTourneaut. "It looks like a sinkhole to me. This has been growing for a couple months now, it needs to be addressed."
LeTourneaut said his Ford F-150 truck with four-wheel drive had to be towed out of the hole January 3 after it became stuck there on a rainy day. He says there were no markings or caution tape telling drivers to avoid the hazard.
"One thousand dollars or more in repairs [to the axle]," he said. "Someone could fall in at night, and you've got a wheelchair ramp right next to it."
First Coast News reached out to the City of Jacksonville on Friday. A representative said they would research the issue and advise.
In November, First Coast News questioned the city about dozens of gaping potholes in the Springfield Historic District. Neighbors on 3rd Street say their requests for maintenance are not yielding results.
Neighbor David Byres said he's called the city's hotline to report the caving opening. He's worried the nearby sewage drain may indicate a problem with the piping underneath the street.
"They've been patching potholes every month or two but they don't actually do a good job," Byres said. "You don't see potholes like this is San Marco."
Diana Shultz, a mother who lives across the street said the hole becomes nearly invisible in the rain, and looks like a puddle a child would want to splash in without concern.
"You literally would only know [that this is a deep hole] if you lived here," said Shultz. "I hope someone does something before somebody gets hurt."