A sinkhole has swallowed part of a major road in Yonkers, shutting it down and forcing an extended repair effort that crews say will take a while to finish. The collapse left an active work scene in the middle of a busy Westchester County roadway, snarling traffic and sending drivers looking for another way around.
According to the city engineer, Paul Summerfield, the sinkhole was created by all the rain and flooding that hit the area on Tuesday. The deluge put pressure on an old piece of the city's infrastructure, and the ground eventually gave way where a buried line runs beneath the surface of the road.
At the heart of the problem is the age of the system underground. Summerfield said the city has a fairly old brick sewer that was built back in the late 1800s, and a decent-sized section of that pipe collapsed. When the pipe failed, it opened up the void that turned into the sinkhole now being dug out and repaired.
The damage has forced a significant closure on the roadway. All northbound lanes of Nepperhan Avenue are closed between Axminster and Myrtle Street while crews work on the repairs. One southbound lane remains open, but the northbound side is fully blocked off at the site of the collapse.
With the road partially shut, officials laid out alternatives for drivers trying to get through the area. Police said Sawmill River Road, as well as North Broadway, can be used as a detour. Drivers were advised to avoid the area if they can, and to give themselves extra time to reach their destination if they cannot.
The sinkhole is one more consequence of the storms that moved through the region earlier in the week, the same system blamed for widespread flooding. As crews dug up more of the road to reach the broken sewer, the timeline for reopening the northbound lanes remained uncertain, with the work expected to stretch on.