$390 million upgrade hopes to end frequent flooding woes on Knickerbocker Avenue
Knickerbocker Avenue has seen considerable flooding in the past.
More Stories
A $390 million city project is aiming to boost the capacity of the water drainage system at Knickerbocker, Evergreen, Central and Wilson avenues in Bushwick.
Knickerbocker Avenue has especially seen considerable flooding in the past, including during Hurricane Ida in 2021, which saw 5 feet of standing water that caused significant damage to homes and businesses.
"It ruined our basement, all of our supply, it must have been $60,000 in damage," said Circo's Pastry owner Anthony Pierdipino.
During a press conference hosted by the DEP, Council woman Sandy Nurse and members of the Adams administration, business owners called the announcement a bittersweet day, as many say issues of flooding have been documented since the 1970s.
"It's been devastating, its been a nightmare for these families,' said Salvatore Polizzi, owner of Tony's Pizzeria.
The project will take the capacity of the sewer system from being able to drain millions of gallons per day to billions, by increasing the number of pipes and upgrading nearby sidewalks to help contain runoff.
"We are going to put in 3 miles of sewer replace pipes- including lead pipes in people's homes and add porous cement that can soak up water, like a sponge" said Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi.
"In many places we will be increasing the capacity by 10 times- 10 times the throughput," said NYC DEP Chair Rohit Aggarwala.
Long standing businesses, like Circo's pastry say for years, its been clear the flooding was more than what they could handle on their own.
"Sand bags isn't going to cut it when you have five feet of water rushing in your gate- its not a puddle, so we look forward to being able to sleep at night when we know that it rains," says Pierdipino.
The construction for the project is set to begin in 2029.
