Remember the Lido Beach sinkhole? It may have additional bonding on the way

Committees in the Nassau County Legislature recently voted to authorize $15 million worth of funds to replenish a capital budget line that was recently used for repairs on two disruptive sinkholes — one in Baldwin and one in Lido Beach.

County legislators in the Public Works, Finance, and Rules Committee voted unanimously Monday to approve amendments to the 2023-26 capital plan and dedicate additional resources to the “lateral sewer repair” capital budget line. Within the past few weeks, funds had been tapped from the line during the repairs of the Lido Boulevard and Grand Avenue, in Baldwin, sinkholes.

“This is the first of many significant investments that we must make in order to rebuild and reinforce Nassau County’s aging critical infrastructure,” said Nassau County Legislator Debra Mulé. “As we look ahead to the 2024 capital plan, I am committed to ensuring that vital resources for road, sewer, and water infrastructure are our County’s top priorities.”

The issue with roads and infrastructure has become a pertinent one to Nassau County, as multiple sinkholes have interrupted normal daily activity in frequently traversed areas. In addition to the sinkhole repairs on Grand Avenue in Baldwin, the Lido Beach sinkhole opened up May 31, taking two weeks to complete while stifling east-west traffic on the barrier island.

“The sinkholes happened because of the aging of the sewer infrastructure,” said Veolia North America spokesperson Lauren Sternberg. “These were 70-year-old pipes that had reached the end of their life cycle. The failure of the underground sewer pipe resulted in the ground above the pipe collapsing and then the roadway collapsed.”

Veolia North America operates Nassau County’s sewer systems, including in Lido Beach and Baldwin.

Sternberg added that each of the sinkholes occurred due to different infrastructure failures. In the case of Lido Boulevard, a manhole failed 20 feet below the ground, causing the sinkhole to occur. The 20-foot-deep sinkhole opened up near Lido Boulevard’s intersection with Regent Drive, right in front of Lido Elementary School and Long Beach Middle School, on May 31, and was the result of a manhole failure. It forced the Point Lookout Lido Fire Department to initially evacuate its headquarters nearby, and necessitated the closure of multiple lanes of the only roadway in and out of Long Beach to and from the Loop Parkway.

The Baldwin sinkhole had sewage seeping up from a broken 36-inch sewage line on Grand Avenue. The sinkhole was caused by a pipe failure, which required repairs to the pieces of pipe along with installation of 721 feet of lining. Sternberg added that the exact costs of the sinkhole repairs are not available yet.

“No part of our County or our region is immune from infrastructure failures like the ones we have experienced during the last month,” Mulé wrote in letters to local, state and federal representatives July 3. “We must take decisive action to protect our environmental assets and secure the health and safety of all Nassau County residents by averting future catastrophes such as the ones that the residents of Baldwin and Lido Beach have endured.”

Additionally, Mulé appealed to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to continue advocating for an accelerated arrival of funds meant for Nassau County via recent federal infrastructure deals. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill was signed into law by President Joe Biden in November 2021, and allowed more than $110 billion to be used across the country to update and maintain infrastructure, including In Nassau County.

“I write with an urgent plea for your offices to work in partnership with your federal colleagues to take all necessary steps to expedite the delivery of funding that has been earmarked for New York State and Nassau County in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” Mulé wrote in a letter to Schumer and Gillibrand.

Officials say that final approval for the additional bonding could come as soon as the scheduled meeting of the full county legislature on Monday, Aug. 7.