SINKHOLE CITY

It's been at least two years, but it's time once again for another HUDseen article titled SINKHOLE CITY.   There are a lot of little holes to go around this time, some of them big expensive.  Our aging infrastructure is getting the best of us, and I can't imagine how much money we are spending just to keep up.  All of this comes on the heels of the huge (and hugely expensive) repair of the failed section of Harry Howard near Underwood Lake.  Though the State DOT covered the costs for that emergency which Colarusso was hired for (about $250,000, I believe), the work necessary to fix what follows below will have to be paid for with city taxpayer funds.  If they are available.

Three weeks ago, DPW took care of a sinkhole next to a storm drain at Columbia & Green (lead picture) that I had noticed a few weeks prior.  Columbia above Green was repaved by Colarusso a few years ago, including surrounding that drain.  Rob Perry regularly tells the council that he can only repave a few streets every two years, not annually, because of the time and effort it takes for his crew to tend to old infrastructure on and under our streets, including storm drains (what he calls catch basins), in preparation of repaving.  If DPW tended to that storm drain before new asphalt was installed around it two or three years ago, they didn't do a very good job of it, did they? 

A sinkhole appeared a few weeks ago near a storm drain on South 3rd at Partition (pictures above and below).  DPW had 4 workers, 3 pickup trucks and a backhoe there this morning, preparing to close traffic in the northbound lane so they could open up the street and see how bad the problem is below.  That job will likely require two flaggers and could take days to complete.  

All of South 3rd from Allen to Warren was repaved by Colarusso in the fall of 2017, but you wouldn't know it by the mess it's been for years and the fact DPW -- at great expense -- has REPLACED portions of it in the past few years because of a subbase (foundation) that is mostly gone or non-existent. Notice the seams in the road just beyond the drain, in the middle of the intersection, where a large patch job was done a year or two ago.  That, I am almost certain, was the result of an excavation by DPW to get at something below, most likely water related.

A sinkhole also recently appeared next to a storm drain in the 700 block of Columbia, ahead of a parking space and adjacent to the entrance of the hotel. DPW left a cone covering it at about the same time they were working on the sinkhole a few hundred feet away.  Drivers constantly run into and over the cone while parking in or leaving the space.  For weeks.  WHATEVER!  Rob's a slob!

You can see the hole where the concrete meets the asphalt, by the overgrown weeds no one cares about.  The concrete surrounding the drain is an indication that the drain has been worked on by DPW at some point in the past.

Back to South 3rd.  About two months ago, and for the 3rd or 4th time in the past two years, DPW patched a portion of failing road on 3rd just south of Warren in the northbound lane.  Remember, this street was repaved just 9 years ago.  This section doesn't need constant patching; it needs to be dug out two feet down and completely replaced, installing a subbase that should hold up for decades.  Rob Perry continues to treat a broken bone with bandages.  The section shown in the picture is not the only failing section on 3rd -- there's another big one near Union that has also been patched multiple times.  The dark patch shown in the picture covers about a third of a larger section that has been previously patched two or three times.

This morning, on the other side of town, I noticed a tiny sinkhole hole in the 700 block of State.  (To save ourselves, we bicyclists have to keep an eye out for these things!)  There is no storm drain near this one, which might indicate a serious problem below.  And sinkholes don't have to be enormous to indicate something awful is going on below -- even the smallest holes can indicate big problems.  State Street from 6th to Green was repaved fairly recently, maybe 5 or 7 years ago.

Finally (at least as far as I know), a sinkhole appeared very recently in the 600 block of Rope Alley next to the county building. DPW filled it with hot patch this morning. They'll be back, even if they don't want to, perhaps really soon. This section of alley -- from the parking lot on the east side of 610 State to 6th Street -- has had water issue below it for at least the past 8 years. Something is wrong. Days after rain it is not unusual to see wet asphalt near 6th, as if the water underneath has nowhere to go but up. I wouldn't be surprised if DPW were to find a big headache under the alley when they return to deal with that sinkhole rather than just covering it up again.

The stickers on the bases of our streetlamp poles -- at least those that remain and can still be read -- say, LIGHTING MAINTAINED BY CITY OF HUDSON.  National Grid left them as a reminder for Rob Perry.  The hole in the base of this pole on 6th Street has been ignored by Perry for at least two years.  When you see something as ugly, neglected and dangerous as this, you can't help but wonder what else Rob Perry can't or isn't interested in paying attention to or maintaining properly, can you?   Yeah, me too!