HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla — We are following through on an issue some of you continue to bring to our attention. We first brought you this story in June when a viewer came to us asking for help after she said she was left stranded on US 41 near Riverview Dr. with a slashed tire and out more than a thousand dollars.
"Someone is going to get killed," Robert Waite, concerned driver, said.
Waite said just this week, he was driving along 41 when he popped his tire going over that same track.
"The car actually had a very hard shock to it, and at first, I didn't know that it was a tire that blew. I thought I hit something, an object, that was banging underneath the car... My mind was just to control the car. That's all I was worried about," Waite explained.
In June, CSX told us it plans to remove the tracks by the end of the year, but it would send its engineering team to see if a temporary fix is needed. Since then, we've reached out twice asking if it ever examined the track and what it found.
Friday, it sent us this statement which reads:
"Cold patch asphalt was installed. However, that is less effective on more heavily traveled roadways. A more permanent repair is being coordinated with FDOT."
Meanwhile, Waite is left with a two-inch gash on his tire, a spare, and plans to not drive on that stretch of 41 until it's fully fixed.
"CSX, the maintenance away department, has to come out here and address these serious issues... Someone is going to get seriously hurt, and I don't want to see that," Waite said.
