MAITLAND, Fla. – It's been an eyesore for years -- a giant pile of dirt on I-4 at the Maitland Interchange has slowly been getting bigger each month for the past few years.
However, in the next few weeks, Ultimate I-4 project managers say all that dirt will be gone.
[SPECIAL COVERAGE: The Big Drive]
"People will notice something's different," said David Parks, spokesman for the I-4 Ultimate project.
The $2.3 billion, 21-mile project officially began in February, but ground didn't break until last month.
Preparations were made years ago for the Maitland Interchange area of the project, filling a giant sink hole as deep as the SunTrust building, and as wide as the Citrus Bowl with concrete.
"We had over 45,000-cubic yards of grout pumped into the ground," said Parks. "Then, all that dirt was placed on top of that to push it in."
Over the past few years, that material has been curing under the dirt. Now, with the project beginning, the dirt will come off and be used in other locations of the project to smooth out roads and work ways.
Parks said even though a ton of dirt is being taken off the pile, it won't be nearly enough to cover the area of the entire 21-mile project.
"If you filled up dump trucks on I-95 nose to tail, you'd have enough to go from Bangor, Maine, to Key West," Parks said.