A stretch of Nepperhan Avenue in Yonkers will likely remain closed until Aug. 7 following the opening of a sinkhole, according to city officials.
A five-foot wide sinkhole tore the Yonkers roadway open on July 22, after a flash rain event sparked the collapse of an underground sewer pipe. The event shuttered Nepperhan Avenue between Axminster Street and Myrtle Street.
The collapsed piping was fully repaired on July 26, however the city is still removing leftover debris from the sewer and inspecting the line to ensure no more defects exist.
“The roadway, weather permitting and pending no further defective section of piping, will be fully opened to traffic by close of business on Friday [Aug. 7],” according to the City of Yonkers Engineering Department.
How exactly did the Yonkers sinkhole open?
After heavy rains hit the city on July 21, a surge of water into the brick combination sewer under the roadway formed a “defect” in the pipe, according to the city’s engineering department.
The “defect” eventually caused the pipe to collapse, unleashing a constant flow of water, which loosened the soil under the road. This caused part of the major roadway to cave in on July 22.
The sewer — which carries both rainwater runoff and human sewage — was constructed in 1891. Recent studies show aging infrastructure and increasingly severe rain events brought on by climate change have made sinkholes more common across the country.
Heavy rainfall also triggered the opening of a sinkhole on I-684 northbound in Goldens Bridge on July 22. The sinkhole, which originally formed July 9 due to a deteriorated drainage pipe, has been temporarily repaired by the state Department of Transportation.
As the sewer system under Nepperhan Ave is city-owned infrastructure, Yonkers is responsible for the full completion and cost of its repair.
“At this stage, it would be premature to provide a cost estimate before engineers complete their assessment and the full scope of work is known,” a city spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Journal News. “The City remains committed to managing and maintaining infrastructure repairs through careful budgeting and planning.”
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Sinkhole shutters part of Yonkers' Nepperhan Ave. See when it reopens
