TAMPA, Fla. — The race is on to finish major roadway repairs across Tampa Bay.
In a press conference Wednesday, the city’s Wastewater and Storm water departments said they have already fixed hundreds of cave-ins. But they said to they hope to finish all the repairs before the upcoming hurricane season.
WATCH: "It's overdue:" Neighbors say as Tampa officials tackle major roadway repairs ahead of hurricane season
Bumpy roads, pot holes, and cave-ins are what many drivers are experiencing when they travel through tampa.
"Very frustrating," said Pepper's Island Restaurant owner Rodney Dhanraj. "It takes longer to get here. My customers [say] it's hard for them to get here too, and park.
Business owners struggle with it, and so do residents.
"You worry about the wear and tear on your car," said Ybor resident Rick Looney.
But what is a cave-in?
Tampa Wastewater Director Eric Weiss said there are 1000 miles of wastewater pipes under our streets up to 10 feet deep that could cause a cave-in.
There is one East 2nd Avenue and North15th Street near the Gasworx Development in Ybor.
"What happens is that wastewater gravity pipe can get a crack in it, and it washes the soil around the pipe into the wastewater pipe and goes away, leaves a void, and the void gets bigger and bigger until it caves in," said Weiss.
And the hurricanes exacerbates it, especially when there is aging infrastructure, like in Tampa Bay.
"Much of our stormwater infrastructure is post-war," said Tampa Director of Mobility Vik Bhide. "It hasn't been updated for decades, which is why our team over the last about 10 years since 2016, have been upgrading one project after another. These are big disruptive, expensive projects."
Tampa officials want to assure the community they are working to fix the problem. Wednesday morning, they announced the progress they have made and continue to make in repairing the cave-ins on the roadways.
"Since October, city crews have addressed, and I'm talking about storm water cave-ins here - city crews have repaired almost 170 cave-ins, and we've got at least 170 to go," said Bhide.
Meanwhile in the wastewater department, Weiss said over 540 cave-ins have been repaired.
And after hiring at least two outside contractors through an emergency affidavit, the city repaired an extra 140 storm water pipes.
"I think it's great and it's, it's time," said Ybor resident. Mark Eary. "It's overdue to have been fixed. We wouldn't have these cave-ins if they would have started a long time ago. But let's move forward. We're here, at least they're getting it done."
Tampa officials said their goal is to finish all the repairs by the end of July.
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