Sinkhole in Riverdale grows to car size before being repaired more than a month later | The Riverdale Press

by Izania Gonzalez

A sinkhole originally reported to the city’s Environmental Protection Agency on July 8 was patched on Friday, August 16, more than a month later.

The hole, located outside a residential building at 3174 Riverdale Ave., had nearly tripled in size during that time.

The hole was cordoned off with reflectors, pylons and yellow tape. However, as it became wider than a passenger vehicle, the barricades protruded onto the two-lane road and disrupted traffic.

The first reports of the sinkhole were found in online Facebook groups in mid-June. Residents spoke to their neighbors and asked for help in cleaning up the hole. Many said they had filed 311 reports. The press contacted the Environmental Protection Agency for comment on July 8. According to agency spokesman Robert Wolejsza, agency staff would cordon off the hole to “make the area safe for the public.”

When pictures of the same hole in the ground appeared on the Internet again in early August (the hole was now almost as big as a car), the Environmental Protection Agency announced on August 14 that it would address the problem the next day.

However, the department did not respond to questions about the remediation of the hole and why it took more than a month to fill it.

Mayor Eric Adams’ office did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

On Friday, August 16, emergency plumbers from American Water Resources were dispatched to the sinkhole site to perform repair work, which they completed the same day.

The city currently has a contract with American Water Resources to handle both emergency and non-emergency water issues, including sinkhole repair. Contractors are used for burst pipes, pipe damage from tree roots, excavations, leaks from pipe corrosion, filling holes and more.

Local contractors said that filling a sinkhole involves filling the hole with soil and then tamping the soil to compact it before finally pouring asphalt over it to close the hole. Contractors also said that the cause of the sinkhole during filling was unclear, but that sinkholes in New York City are often caused by burst water pipes.

Sinkholes usually fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Environmental Protection, not the Department of Transportation. The city’s Department of Transportation is responsible for repairing road damage such as potholes, but sinkholes usually have deeper causes that must be addressed by different agencies.

According to the Fairfax County government in Virginia, sinkholes are often caused by water seeping through loose soil and creating underground cavities. These can cause the roadway to sink inward and collapse as the ground beneath it erodes.

City residents are encouraged to report sinkholes, potholes and other road damage through the 311 system.

There is an ongoing history of sinkholes in Riverdale.

In March, a burst water pipe caused a sinkhole on Cambridge Avenue. A sinkhole had previously occurred in January at the corner of West 231st Street and Fairfield Avenue. Additional sinkholes were discovered and repaired on Greystone Avenue and West 242nd Street, Johnson Avenue, Independence Avenue and Edsall Avenue.

On August 13, another resident shared on social media that a new sinkhole had been discovered just blocks from the first, near the intersection of West 235th Street and Riverdale Avenue.

This new sinkhole has also been reported to the city. Only time will tell how the city will respond to the growing number of sinkholes in the greater Riverdale area.