Gowanus Lounge: Serving Brooklyn

Attack of the (New) Bergen Street Sinkhole

August 18th, 2008 · 1 Comment

From the Boerum Hill Group, comes word of a sinkhole that is forming as we speak on Bergen Street between Hoyt and Bond. Here’s the news:

There is a sinkhole forming beneath the pavement of Bergen Street between Hoyt and Bond, in front of #135 Bergen, just at the corner of Hoyt. The hole in the pavement is only 16″ or so in diameter, but the hole is at least 8 feet deep, and increases with each rainfall. Passersby have stuck sticks in it to make it visible, but this just adds to the hazard, especially for
cyclists. I called 311 last week but they are obviously dragging their feet on this one, as their definition of a sink hole is ‘an opening in a street at least two feet wide’. This is a dangerous situation; if a car were to hit it an axle could break on the vehicle and send it out of control. If a cyclist hits it they’d go over the handlebars. It’s going to require a bunch of us to make some noise to get them to fix this and address the underlying cause of the collapse.

Apparently, sinkholes need to be two feet wide before the city will respond. Eight feet deep is not alarming enough?

Tags: Boerum Hill · Uncategorized

1 response so far ↓

  • 1 SRD // Aug 18, 2008 at 5:05 pm

    Not surprised at all… This has been a recurring problem on Pacific as well. They’ve “fixed” it several times over the past 2+ years, but it keeps coming back.