Enormous Sinkhole Gobbles 82nd Street
Photo by Beth Caron.
A hole at least 20 feet wide opened up in the middle of 82nd Street between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West on Monday morning, forcing the city to close down the block.
Update, 12:45 p.m.: The city says it was caused by a defect in a private water pipe at 56 West 82nd Street. Customers have all had their water restored.
Photo by Liz Belson.
Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Ted Timbers said crews are checking the underground infrastructure.
“It’s very preliminary right now. The DEP was notified of a roadway collapse this morning. Crews responded. They’re excavating now to check on the water and sewer infrastructure to see if there’s any damage. What caused it is what’s being determined now. We don’t know yet. They’ll finish excavating very shortly and we’ll have a better sense of any damage, what repairs are necessary. That will take place in the next few hours.”
Photo by Carol Tannenhauser.
The Rats are going to love this sink hole –
I thought they “fixed” this a few years ago? Clearly They didn’t or the river which run below has been redirected.
I thought that was West 84th St. but i’m not sure. If I recall that is why they have all of those mosquito issues down on W.E. and Riverside. How bad was it this last summer? I didn’t really hear anything about mosquitos this summer…just rats and dog waste. Oh what a filthy city…why do we love it sooo much?:)
Either way, they really should maintain these side streets properly. Honestly though, I don’t know how this doesn’t happen more often. This city is truly a marvel.