sinkhole
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A sinkhole big enough to swallow a car has developed on a busy section of Mississippi Highway 6 in Oxford.

Fortunately, people spotted the hazard and authorities re-routed traffic before anybody drove into it.
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports the problem started Wednesday morning in an eastbound lane. The hole was between the exit for Jackson Avenue and one for Chucky Mullins Drive, leading to the University of Mississippi campus.

City Engineer Bart Robinson says he first feared a water main had broken. But the culprit appeared to be a culvert buried 31 feet below the highway, which had separated and caused erosion.

Mississippi Department of Transportation crews were working to fix the problem. It was not immediately clear how long the repair would take.