Hillsborough Trail Sinkhole
 

They have Hillsborough Trail closed just east of the Buena Vista gate due to a sinkhole. Since there aren't a lot of detours here, does anyone know what the typical time frame for repair on these is? There's going to be a lot of irritated seniors if that road stays closed for an extended period....

They usually get right on street repair? It’s when it extends over to/under residential housing its snail pace on residential property.

Is it a sink hole or sewer line collapse?

The detour is easy, no reason to get irritated.

There is a good probability of a sewer line issue that has caused a cavern below the road surface to open up. I drove by it yesterday before they closed the road down.

I agree, is obvious in the picture on the “rag” site.

You can see a larger patch on the road close to the depression. That patch was to correct a previous depression, maybe 7 or 8 years ago which was not a sinkhole so assume it's the same cause. It took them several attempts to get it fixed.

Shoddy Infrastructure Construction
 

It sure looks like another sewer line due to construction error or inferior materials? What’s scary is the road was only constructed 12 years ago! One wonders how long they used the same materials, workers and techniques throughout our newer villages construction.

Wasn’t there a similar “sinkhole” this past summer in the even newer section of the villages in Monarch Grove? For sure we know the Villages are not new to the phenomenon.

If these were sinkholes, it wouldn’t surprise me either. There have been many confirmed sink holes inside the Villages. We lost the golf cart route where Meggison and Morse met for 2 weeks while they filled one. Homesites aren’t immune either, I really feel for the poor people who paid premium lot prices near Ashland that have since drained. Does anyone recall the 3 big holes that opened up inside the bubble in 2021? Villagers would do well to make sure their sinkhole insurance is up to date.

As of this morning it has been fixed.

They should have posted a sign on westbound Hillsborough east of Anna Maria, which is the last way out instead of making people drive all the way to BV and then turn around. Oh, well.

Probability and randomness. Low probability of a sinkhole at your house. High randomness makes it scary. It's like the lottery except different outcome.

A cavern below a leaking sewer line may have dissolved some of the underground limestone and caused the surrounding soil to fall into the hole created by the dissolving limestone. Another name for that is a sinkhole.

Not really!
Other subterranean events can cause holes, depressions or subsidence of the land surface that may mimic sinkhole activity. These include subsurface expansive clay or organic layers that compress as water is removed; collapsed or broken sewer and drain pipes; broken septic tanks; improperly compacted soil after excavation work; and buried trash, logs and other debris. Often a depression is not verified by a licensed professional geologist or engineer to be a true sinkhole, and the cause of subsidence is not known. Such events are called subsidence incidents.

Sinkholes | Florida Department of Environmental Protection

Just drove down Hillsborough to see the current situation.

- Road is completely open (though there is a barricade in the golf cart lane to avoid)
- The depression/sinkhole was NOT in the picture in the paper
- The repair is at a manhole at the intersection of Druid and Hillsborough
- The repair appears to be a section maybe 2' square with one corner against the manhole (not completely around the manhole)
- I didn't look closely to see if it was marked as sewer or drainage, not that it really matters

Whatever.

So what are you are saying is that leaking water pipes and sewer lines can’t cause sinkholes? You sound like an employee for the Villages. That is certainly OK as everyone has a right to be on a forum. Maybe I am wrong, but it is strange why someone would feel the need to say it isn’t a sinkhole. Isn’t this thread called “Hillsborough Trail Sinkhole?”