JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Days after a road collapses in downtown, another problem pops up underneath the center of Jacksonville as an 8-inch pipe bursts where a new parking garage is going in.
Water spilled for a few hours onto two roads and one building lost water for hours. It was quite a spectacle for all the offices in the large high-rise buildings downtown.
JEA told News4Jax it has no idea how the pipe burst. It is under the new parking garage project being built across from the Jacksonville Landing.
But that's not the only problem in downtown. People who live in the townhomes off Liberty Street are still out of their homes after the road collapsed this weekend.
"Our property values have plummeted because of the perception that the townhomes are unsafe. We believe they are safe. Built on different pilings than that road, but because of this perception, it has hurt us," said Viki Burnett.
Burnett said she's frustrated that the pilings under her home are secure, and the Florida Department of Transportation needs to do an inspection to prove that to the public. She also points to the fact that Liberty Street near the old courthouse has been closed for years and feels it's another problem of neglect downtown.
"We want the Department of Transportation inspecting our pilings along with everybody else. This road closure has gone on three years, the city has ignored it. We have asked them over and over again to do something, we feel that has contributed to it, and now we have no electricity," she said.
As far as Liberty Street, the FDOT bridge team is still trying to locate resources to help the city and inspect the problem. That will likely happen next week.