Preliminary work began Wednesday on a Gainesville sinkhole, as Georgia Department of Transportation workers readied for heavy digging set to begin today. Workers spent Wednesday putting together a metal “trench box,” which is designed to provide a safe work area inside the sinkhole by holding back dirt, DOT district spokeswoman Teri Pope said. The sinkhole is next to Barry’s Better Menswear in the parking lot of the Lakeshore Place shopping center in the northeast corner of Ga. 53 Connector/John Morrow Parkway and Pearl Nix Parkway.