A section of roadway has been sinking over the past several months at the intersection of North 1st Street and Bryant Avenue, and village of New Hyde Park officials are not sure what to do with it.
Village of New Hyde Park Mayor Robert Lofaro said he has referred the issue to village engineering consultants Dvirka & Bartolucci.
Once the engineers determine a course of action, Lofaro said, the repair work will then be referred to village contractor Stasi Brothers or the village Department of Public Works.
“It’s very similar to many other areas we have all over place. It’s depressed a bit now and needs to be corrected,” Lofaro said.
Lofaro said when utilities do subsurface work, issues occur, as appears to be the case on North 1st Street and Bryant Avenue.
Bryant Avenue resident Ed Waldron has been monitoring the intersection and recently raised the issue at the April 16 village board meeting. He said the depression in the road near the southeast corner of the intersection of North 1st Street and Bryant Avenue has been getting progressively worse and needs to be addressed.
The depression in the road, four or five inches lower than the surrounding road surface, appears to be centered around a square patch where utility work apparently had been done under the road sometime in the past.
“They’ve got to dig it up and see what’s doing it,” Waldron said.
Waldron retired from his job last fall as spill supervisor and safety officer for Framingdale-based Tyree Company, overseeing construction of gas stations. He said the sinking roadbed represents a potentially serious safety hazard. He said cars traveling east on Bryant typically move into the westbound lane to avoid the depression. Cars could be observed doing that at dusk on one recent evening.
“Somebody’s going to kill somebody,” said Waldron, who is also an ex-captain of the New Hyde Park Fire Department.
Village DPW Superintendent Thomas Gannon had contacted the Town of North Hempstead, which maintains the sewer lines under the roadbed, several months ago. He said they inserted cameras through manholes in the intersection but detected no leaks from the pipes that might be eroding the roadway from below.
“They’re trying to figure out what’s sinking,” Gannon said. “If it wasn’t back-filled properly, it might be beginning to show.”
