Sinkhole City In The Year Of Erosion

For at least the past month, I have been trying to figure out a way to piece together an article on the topic of the crazy amount of infrastructure work and repair going on around the city at the hands of DPW, contractors and utility companies.  I've felt challenged to write something that wouldn't overwhelm readers with information, street names, company names and pictures.  But last night while walking on Warren Street, I came across something that may help encapsulate at least some of the situation that Hudson finds itself in this year with regards to infrastructure issues.  

In a HUDseen article from nearly one year ago on the same topic*, I made the following premise: We seem to be at a critical stage with our old, neglected and abused infrastructure. This still seems to be true. The trouble never seems to end, and all the rain we now get is likely a big cause of the problem. We live on a planet that consists mainly of water, and trying to tame water is a fool's errand. Concrete and asphalt are no match for the wet stuff in the long run. Our DPW can barely keep up with the repairs.

At 10:45, making my way across City Hall Place while walking the sidewalk on the southern side of Warren Street, I noticed something round and dark in the street next to the storm drain at the southeast corner.  Upon closer inspection, I realized it was a fresh 4- or 5-inch hole in the street surrounded by cracks in the pavement.  Here we go again, I thought, yet another sinkhole, yet another spot where a city street is lacking a foundation to stand on.  It took me just two mild stomps over the hole before it was wide enough to easily stick my entire 12-inch shoe below the street.  Someone could have done just the same stepping off the curb.

With my phone's flashlight, I was able to see just how unsupported the street in front of the drain was.  There was nothing but air at least 2 feet below the asphalt and nothing but air wider than the hole by at least one foot.  I was standing on an inch or two of cracked and unsupported asphalt!  I could clearly see all of the wall of the drain basin 2 feet below the street since there was no earth or anything near it.  

That's the thing about sinkholes -- a small hole poking through the street may be the precursor to a cavern below or just a little bit of missing foundation.  To say the least, what I saw was jaw dropping, but not really all that surprising.  My sense is that all the pavement sawing, excavating, machinery, etc. for the gas line replacement project on Warren and elsewhere is affecting nearby infrastructure.  That black line above the hole in the picture is the asphalt that was used to fill the gas pipe trench that was dug earlier this week and worked on and in yesterday or the day before.  Of course, the two events could just be a coincidence -- DPW has been repairing a lot of holes adjacent to storm drains lately, most recently at Park & Columbia.

Sinkhole in front of a storm drain
at Park & Columbia in May.

I called HPD to tell them that someone should come have a look at the sinkhole on Warren Street before it swallows a car or a human being, and to bring a cone or two.  "You do have cones, don't you?" I asked the friendly dispatcher.  She replied, "No, officers don't have any cones with them." 

"Really?" I asked.

"Yeah, they'll have to go to the DPW garage and get some."

"Okay, whatever. Thanks."

Within 12 hours, DPW had been busy at the sinkhole with several cones and other equipment to ward off any danger and mark yet another area where our infrastructure has failed us and will require DPW's time, resources and attention as well as, of course, more taxpayer funds.  

While the cracks surrounding the hole may have appeared yesterday along with the hole, I doubt it.  My guess is that the cracks had been there for a while allowing water to seep below the street.  If enough water gets below the few inches of asphalt, the street's foundation will begin to erode.  Heck, even a leaking pipe will do a fine job of creating a sinkhole.  If that sinkhole rears its head at the surface early enough in the form of a small hole, there is time to get to what is missing below.  But sometimes there is no warning.  You can go online to view and read about all sorts of examples of perfectly solid-looking streets suddenly collapsing into an enormous sinkhole, sometimes with cars and passengers dropping in.  It doesn't just happen in Florida -- yes, even here in the State of New York!

Over on the 400 block of Union Street, the city is being forced by the State DEC to replace a Civil War-era stone sewer that has been flooding basements for at least a few years.  According to DPW Superintendent Robert Perry, the city will be spending close to $800,000 on that project, all of it going to our friends at Colarusso.  Though who knows, maybe Colarusso underestimated how much it will actually cost them to finish the job.  Dig up enough of a street and you're likely to find more trouble, especially nowadays.

Such a lovely surface on South 3rd Street!
Top notch!!  First Class!!!  Yahoo!!!!

National Grid's contractor Mullen just recently finished installing gas pipes on the 400 block of Union.  If you have walked, biked or driven there sometime in the past week or two, you know that the street is an absolute friggin' disgraceful mess.  Cracks?  Oh, it's got cracks!  Thankfully, perhaps, the timing couldn't be better for Colarusso to dig up the entire block and replace the 150-year-old sewer below.  At the very least, we get a smooth new street out of the deal.  Smooth and free of cracks and sinkholes for how long, though?

*If this was underwhelming for you and you haven't read the July 2023 article on our infrastructure woes, you may be overwhelmed here: Critical Stage? 

Perhaps 2024 is the year of EROSION!