There apparently isn’t enough asphalt to fill this hole.
Ridgewood’s historic Stockholm Street continues to suffer from a major cave-in, and residents are determined to see the landmarked street fixed.
The cave-in was initially reported to 311 by Stockholm Street resident and president of the Newtown Historical Society, Christina Wilkinson, in June of last year.
In a response to Wilkinson’s complaint, the Department of Transportation (DOT) stated that the location is part of an existing project, or may be included in a future, long-term project.
Last month, the DOT temporarily patched the bricks with black asphalt at the site of the cave-in, but a nearly 4-foot-deep hole still exists in the asphalt. Wilkinson stated that repair crews returned to the site on Dec. 24, 25, 26 and 28 to lay more asphalt, but the hole continues to sink.
“The City of New York has been well aware of this situation since June of last year and for the DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) to take this long to make a repair is unacceptable,” Wilkinson said. “On top of the safety issue, the street itself is landmarked, and deserves to be fully restored in a timely manner.”
Representatives from the DEP informed Gary Giordano, district manager of Community Board 5, that they tested the site via camera and found that the sewer manhole on Stockholm Street is in good condition; the agency also indicated that the sewer line is attached to the manhole without a break or collapse.
The DEP told Giordano that they will investigate the situation further with the help of the DOT.
“I really believed this Stockholm situation was a typical DEP repair matter that has been going on for too long,” Giordano said. “Now I’m being told, which I find surprising, that there isn’t any kind of a break in the manhole walls or the sewer line. If that is true, this is a mystery because there aren’t too many situations, in my experience, where we have a sinking condition and they, either DOT or DEP, patch the sinking condition and it keeps going down where it is not sewer-related when it is next to the manhole.”
