Public Employee Press

Landslide

Members reopen the Henry Hudson Parkway
promptly after a century-old retaining wall collapses.

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

DC 37 members reopened the Henry Hudson Parkway less than three days after a century-old, 75-foot retaining wall collapsed and spilled tons of boulders, dirt, trees and masonry into the highway.

Members of Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375 who work at the Dept. of Design and Construction coordinated the project by building on their experience cleaning up Ground Zero after the 2001 terrorist attack.

Ahead of schedule
“After going through the World Trade Center experience, there was no learning curve,” said Construction Project Manager Michael Kenny, health and safety chair of Civil Service Guild Local 375. “We just flew with it and got the job done.”

And they got the job done ahead of schedule. The thunderous landslide that followed the collapse at 3 p.m. Thursday, May 12, dumped tons of debris onto the northbound lanes, crushing parked cars and closing the highway. Southbound traffic resumed within hours. The northbound lanes re-opened at 10:18 p.m. on Sunday, May 16, in plenty of time for the next morning’s commute.

During DC 37’s Mayoral Forum on May 19 at the union, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg praised members for their quick work, joking that he would have been in hot water if the six-lane parkway hadn’t been ready for the Monday rush hour. Bloomberg praised Local 375 members in a subsequent phone call to Local 375 President Claude Fort, who had cited the work when he questioned the mayor about privatization at the forum.

Immediately after the landslide, hundreds of emergency vehicles, including ambulances staffed by members of EMS Local 2507, converged on the disaster site in upper Manhattan. Remarkably, despite the tons of debris that poured onto the roadway, no one was hurt. Once the city determined the collapse wasn’t a result of terrorism, the mayor assigned the project to the Dept. of Design and Construction, which also handled the 9/11 cleanup.

“The real turning point in the operation came when the mayor said we were in charge,” said
Local 375 Treasurer Ron Vega, who was among 25 technical workers DDC assigned to coordinate the cleanup and reinforce the wall. “There was no one second-guessing us. When you have an air of authority, you can get the job done quickly.”

Drivers and Traffic Enforcement Agents 4s represented by Local 376 and Local 983 and Parks Dept. workers from Local 1505 cleaned and removed road debris. Laborers from the Dept. of Environmental Protection, who are Local 376 members, helped clean out sewer basins.

Preventing another collapse
The DDC team worked with the police, contractors and city agencies to transport 3,000 to 4,000 cubic tons of debris every hour by road and by barge to the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island and a privately owned site in Queens.

Surveyors inserted magnetic laser devices into the remaining sections of the wall to monitor movements so workers would be warned about another collapse. Structural Engineers studied the wall to determine how to readjust the slope on the hill and install mesh reinforcement.

“We were worried about a further collapse,” said Construction Project Manager Charlie Kaczorowski, who like Kenny and Vega is a 9/11 veteran. “They had predicted rain, but luckily that didn’t happen.” The picturesque wall at 181st St. was built in the early 20th century near a four-story castle owned by real estate developer Charles Paterno. The Castle Village housing complex now overlooks — and owns — the wall.

Residents in the area had complained about boulders falling off the wall since 1999, according to Audrey Allen, treasurer of the West 181st St. Beautification Project. Only a week before, engineers hired by Castle Village reported that the wall needed repairs.