Residents near I-80 sinkholes in Wharton, NJ concerned about safety, stability of their homes after cracks form
Two sinkholes on I-80 in Wharton, N.J., along with what transportation officials are calling "a significant void" under the eastbound lanes has residents of a nearby building concerned.
One resident tells CBS News New York he started seeing cracks in the walls after the second sinkhole.
Anthony Colonna said cracks started forming in the walls of his apartment, along with those of his fellow residents at the Avalon Wharton apartments. Colonna said the Wharton's mayor was notified, and repair crews did a "quick spackle job" on the cracks.
"You can't just call all of this a coincidence"
The Avalon Wharton apartments sit along I-80, where Department of Transportation officials say crews are working on a deep void under the eastbound lanes of the highway after repairing two sinkholes in the same area.
"They are doing a lot of construction over there with jackhammers and drills that are going underground hundreds of feet from this building, and my concern is the vibrations from all of that construction could be affecting the structure of this building," Colonna said.
Transportation officials say the collapse of an abandoned mineshaft caused the sinkholes. That's an additional source of concern to nearby residents.
"There's new cracks showing up every day, and you can't just call all of this a coincidence," Wharton resident Liam Gavin said.
"I'm looking for anxiety groups"
"There's a lot of cracks. The wall is separating from the bottom of the floor," resident Brittany Wasserman said.
"I haven't slept. I like, just, literally, I'm, like, looking for anxiety groups," resident Karina Lozano said.
"We are reaching to the Avalon corporate company, and no on is giving us answers. So it makes us very anxiety stricken every single night. We don't know if we are going to go to bed and not wake up," resident Andrew Deem said.
CBS News New York tried to get comment at the Avalon Wharton apartments office and was told someone from their team would get back to us.
"The residents were concerned about this building here," Wharton Mayor Bill Chegwidden said.
He said residents were safe, and that he's been in touch with the apartment building.
"A lot of time we a;sp have cracks and stuff in our house also, in settling. The building is over 10 years old," Chegwidden said.
"I understand the position the mayor, but when you asked him if we're safe and he said yes, we don't know that, and it's understandable that we don't feel safe in our own building," Gavin said.
DOT crews have been making repairs, and officials say there's no immediate concern about the stability of the westbound lanes.
