Bronx Residents Fearful Treacherous Stretch of Road Will Lead to Fatalities

For several years, Bronx residents—along with Community Board 10 and the City Island Civic Association—have been begging for New York City to fix a hazardous stretch of Shore Road, a road which goes from the Pelham Bay Landfill and into Westchester County.

Water—whether groundwater or from a water main (determination has yet to be made)—not only creates crater-like potholes but also freezes over in the winter forcing drivers to swerve and veer into the opposite lane of this two-lane road to avoid the potholes and patches of dangerous ice.

According to Tommy Breen (who’s been documenting the Old and New City Island Bridges extensively told us that the problem is, “…just 3/10’s of a mile beyond Bartow-Pell Mansion on the Northbound side”

A user on Facebook who shared the video wrote, “I can say taking shore rd as my daily commute, it gets exhausting dodging oncoming traffic because these idiots don’t know how to fix the craters in this spot. What are they gonna do wait till someone gets killed? Get it to together NYC.”

These sentiments have been echoed throughout social media by dozens of local residents

Breen and his brother James created a video in hopes of garnering more attention to the situation and maybe, just maybe, that New York City will step in and fix the problem.

Watch a video showing actual footage of this dangerous situation putting people at risk:

City Island residents, who rely on this road on the mainland, have even tried reporting the problems to 311 for years but to no avail.

James Breen posted the video to NYC DOT’s page on Facebook earlier today and DOT replied asking for the exact location in the report—something residents have been doing for years now.

John Doyle, City Island resident and Corresponding Secretary for the City Island Civic Association (who’s also running for City Council District 13 which will be vacated by term-limited James Vacca in 2017), said a letter has been sent to NYC DOT from the association.

In the letter, the association writes:

“Dear Commissioner MoranWe write to you today to respectfully request that your department examine whether both Orchard Beach Road and Shore Road are in need of resurfacing. The matter has come to the attention of our Association several times. We called 311, and on several occasions potholes were filled. Weeks later, however, many of these same holes reappear and are then even worse than they were originally. We have attached the following photographs for your review.

We need a more permanent solution to this problem. Because the roadways in Pelham Bay Park are poorly lit because of utility problems, motorists cannot even see the potholes to avoid them. We ask that your office review these roadways and resurface them as soon as possible. As you are likely aware, the summer season is only a few months away, and thousands of motorists will use these roadways to travel to both City Island and Orchard Beach. It would therefore be helpful if both this request and any necessary remediation are expedited. “

Anyone who’s traveled to City Island and along Shore Road knows how bad they are and one of the litany of complaints is how the patch jobs are sub par and don’t last long. With all the water, the potholes just reappear.

We chatted with DOT’s office and were told that DOT has inspected the site but they can only patch up the roads. DOT employee said that the water issue is out of their jurisdiction and they have referred the situation to NYC Department of Environmental Protection and NYC Parks.

Welcome2TheBronx received confirmation from Parks that they are aware of the situation and currently working with DEP in resolving the issue, however, no specific timeframe was given.

The Bronx DOT’s commissioner’s office did acknowledge that the roads need to be repaved, however, they are unable to do so until capital funding is made available, something which they spoke with Councilman James Vacca’s office who is the council member for the area.

According to Councilman Vacca’s staff, they have been in communication with DOT and that the discussion of Shore Road being a capital improvement project was indeed correct and they are working with the necessary agencies.

Meanwhile, Tommy Breen told us that, “I think it was important to use a drone to show clearly how cars have to leave their lane to avoid the ice. It’s been like that for years at that spot.”

“Lots of cars get flat tires and dented rims year round from hitting the big potholes that are in the Westchester-bound lane.” he added.

Let’s hope while we sit and wait for the work to get done that no one gets hurt.

“This is a Vision Zero issue for sure”, said Tommy