ForConstructionPros.com

When Todd Gorby, the foreman at Ajax Paving Industries in southwest Florida, got the call at almost midnight on a Sunday that there was a 20- by 30-foot sinkhole on a heavily traveled road, he knew he only had only a short time to get the road re-opened before the Monday morning rush hour.

"This is a two-lane road, but it holds more traffic than it should. In the morning it is really busy," Gorby says. Complicating the situation is that Ajax Paving's contract with the state only allows Gorby's team a few hours to respond to this type of situation.

Started in Michigan in 1951, Ajax Paving has had a presence in southwest Florida fore more than 25 years. Most of its work is for the state, though the 200-person Florida division also has road repair contracts for Pasco and Pinellas counties and also constructs parking lots.

Gorby says sinkholes are not common in the area, but in this case a pipe had burst and washed away dirt from under the road.

Fortunately, Gorby was working with his four-man crew at another site that night, so when they got the call about the sinkhole they were able to respond quickly. However, the equipment -- specifically a backhoe, plate compactor, and pavement saw -- they needed was being used at another job site.