NJ Gives $1.5M Grant To Help Fix Hoboken Sinkhole
HOBOKEN, N.J. (AP) -- Hudson County officials say reconstruction work that would repair a large sinkhole which formed on a Hoboken street last fall could be completed by early June.
The work is expected to cost $1.7 million. But New Jersey's Department of Transportation recently provided a $1.5 million grant for the project.
The roughly 60-foot-long, 15-foot-wide sinkhole formed along a stretch of Sinatra Drive on Oct. 8. No one was injured in the incident, but the subsequent road excavation and other work has forced an overhaul of vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the area.
Officials say several factors caused the sinkhole, including the roadway's age and stress put on it by traffic. Also blamed are shipworms -- mollusks known as "termites of the sea" -- that severely damaged timber platforms undergirding the road.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
