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Years of neglect have caused issues roads, bridges and tunnels around the tri-state.

Will new infrastructure funding be enough to fix the issues?

Join&nbsp;News 12 senior investigative reporter Walt Kane for a special report “Failing Foundations” only on News 12.

WEB LINK:&nbsp;<a href="https://firststreet.org/risk-factor/">Flooding Risk Factor Database</a>

Join News 12 senior investigative reporter Walt Kane for a special report “Failing Foundations” only on News 12.

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News 12’s ‘Failing Foundations’ special

MTNJFailingFoundations0920

crumbling concrete on bridges and tunnels. They're extremely old and they look their age. But inspection reports are so censored, it's hard to tell what they say. They've made the document completely ineffective and not capable of being understood For years. Rail commuters traveling between New York and New Jersey have suffered through endless delays. One fall can lead up to 60, 70 hours worth of delays. Will the infrastructure plan approved by Congress finally provide relief? This is a big freaking deal. Team 12 investigates failing foundations. Hi, I'm walt Kane for the next half hour I'll be shining a spotlight on the tri states, failing foundations. I'm standing in front of the George Washington bridge, the most heavily traveled bridge in the world. Has it suffered from years of neglect? Here's what we found out in a cane in your corner investigation. Nobody wants to go in the city, it's for a truck driver, it's not something anybody wants to do five or six times a week frank cmP delivers construction materials just driving 35 to 40 hours from New Jersey to New york and back kind of know where every bump and there's one part of the trip. He really doesn't like. I think the George Washington bridge is probably the worst bridge. I don't think they're ever going to fix it. Right frank isn't alone. It's very old and just a question of time before there is a problem. Can use some work wasn't designed with the amount of traffic that we have today. Team 12 obtained a decade's worth of inspection reports on the G. W. The most recent from the end of 2019 shows numerous issues, including severely corroded and cracked deck ribs, those are what support the roadway. Another key structure element. These suspender ropes were in fair condition, meaning they still function but need priority repair. Despite that, inspectors said the bridge overall was in good condition. I do not see in this report a convincing argument that this bridge is in in very good shape. One of America's leading infrastructure experts says the report indicates the Ports Authority is falling behind on maintenance deterioration is ongoing and is getting faster. In fact, the most recent inspection found nearly one 100 priority repairs outstanding, even though those are supposed to take precedence over any other scheduled work and the backlog is growing back in 2009, there were 25 outstanding priority repairs on the lower level. A decade later, there were 38 on the upper level. Outstanding priority repairs grew from 40 to 51. George Washington is typically without maintenance. More effective maintenance is at the end or nearing the end of its useful life. The Port Authority insists the G. W. was always in good shape and is getting a lot better. What we're talking about here is restoring the George Program. They invited us to tour the bridge which is undergoing a $2 billion dollar restoration. Among the projects replacing all 592 suspender ropes. When you look at the type of investment we're making here at the bridge, we're going to be building infrastructure that's going to be here for the next 50 to 100 years. But should some of this work have been done sooner. When I asked about issues in the inspection, I kept getting the same answer and I haven't seen those reports of what you're talking. I don't know exactly what you were looking at again. I don't know what you were looking at. I don't know what you were looking at in reports so it's really not good for me to answer those questions. Bear in mind we told the Ports authority we wanted to talk about those inspections. We even gave them some of our questions in advance. If we can't really talk about the conditions, we can't really talk about the report. What can we talk about? Definitely answer any questions about the ongoing projects, the work we're doing here and the great work that these people are doing every day. The port authority eventually gave us a written statement saying priority repairs are not the most significant type and are packaged into ongoing and new construction adding sometimes the design and award time may push the repair beyond the two year timeframe but priority repairs sometimes take a lot longer in 2009. There were 40 priority repairs outstanding on the upper level in the decade that followed. Just 29 were completed. And remember those suspender ropes that the port authority is now replacing. Prior to replacement the suspender ropes were in good condition. That's simply not true in every inspection report for over a decade, the suspender ropes were listed as needing priority repair. I asked about the discrepancy and you can probably guess the answer I saw in the inspections frayed cables was that suspender ropes? I don't know exactly what you were looking at so I don't want to comment on that. The tri state doesn't just have the world's busiest bridge. It also has two of the busiest tunnels, the Lincoln and Holland. So what are conditions like there? The answer isn't so easy to find out as our investigation found the porch authority is keeping all of us in the dark every day. Hundreds of thousands of people travel between new york and New Jersey using the Lincoln and holland tunnels. But both crossings are nearly 100 years old and some drivers wonder just what kind of shape they're in. You can see they're extremely old and they look their age telling the truth. That was kind of like Yeah, I am I under the water right now because I'm about to take a pretty significant bath here. Under the Freedom of Information law team 12 obtained the latest inspection reports on the tunnels from March of 2020 but when we dug through them we found the ports authority was keeping us in the dark, page after page was blacked out. They've made the document completely ineffective and not capable of being understood. The port Authority says the redactions were For security reasons. But an expert on public records law says the agency went too far. These are public safety issues and the public absolutely has a right to know the status of repairs and whether or not important or essential repairs are being made. Take the Holland tunnel. The inspection says overall it's in good condition but says 29 priority repairs are needed at 103 locations, but there's no way to find out what those repairs are. Of the 285 pages in this report, 260 were mostly or totally blacked out. List of repairs and the locations of what should be repaired is not a secret. It's a similar story with the Lincoln tunnel. Again, inspectors found the tunnel to be in good condition overall, except for the roadway in the south tunnel which inspector said was only in fair condition But finding out more was nearly impossible. Of the 313 pages in this inspection report, just 12 were uncensored. The Port Authority had redacted almost everything from routine maintenance to parts of the Table of Contents. We asked the Court Authority for an explanation and a spokesperson gave us this statement. The security of millions of motorists who entrust us with their safe passage through our bridges and tunnels is of utmost importance. We take every step to ensure these facilities remain safe and secure. Doesn't buy that. Yes, there may be specific nuggets of information in there. That could be legitimate security concerns. But the way these reports have been completely redacted or at least so broadly redacted, it really looks like instead of trying to protect the public interest, the port authority's trying to protect itself, you can read the inspection reports on all three Hudson river crossings at news 12 dot com. Now you might think you could avoid these crossing concerns by taking mass transit, but if you've ever been stuck in that rail tunnel between New york and New Jersey, you know, that's not always the case. Could the long awaited gateway tunnel project finally provide some relief. My colleague has that story. Usually my commute is an hour and 20 and two commute was 2.5 hours. It's a scene at this train station, every commuter fears and I started noticing we veered off towards the Hoboken tracks and then I'm watching a train goes by us and we're just sitting there and then we just stopped the chaotic rush of commuters offloaded to Hoboken as their penn station bound trains were diverted. It's the result of just one Amtrak work hard getting stuck inside the North River tunnel, creating a cascade of delays for almost every train line in the tri state area. When something simple like this happens, it completely throws everything into a mess. Our Team 12 investigation uncovered systemic delays that originate inside of the tunnel rippled throughout the tri state area and in just the first three months of 2021 Data shows passengers experienced over 3000 minutes of delays. We usually have a fall about once a year and many of those delays occurred because of its aging infrastructure would say one fall can lead up to 60, 70 hours worth of delays. Team 12 investigates obtained data, which shows in 2020 alone, passengers experienced over 12,500 minutes of delays because of aging infrastructure inside of the North River tunnel. The first thing we're gonna do here is cross dock bridge. The tunnel is the last stretch of this critical 10 miles of infrastructure that connects New Jersey to New york that more than 200,000 daily passengers ride over. So portal bridge, we call it the achilles heel of the Northeast Corridor because of the location and the unreliability really. The territory we're riding through is now known as the Gate Program and for critical pieces of infrastructure responsible for the ripple effect of delays ranged from 87 to 115 years old. We are coming around the bend here and about to enter the North river tunnels. The 111 year old tunnel is only one track in and out with dripping leaks, cracks and extensive corrosion from Superstorm sandy. It continues to operate as delays perpetually get worse Every year. We can't get to a point where the delays are so bad that we can't sustain a regular level of service. Team 12 investigates, obtained an independent review of the tunnel detailing the significant causes of these major delays, saying they don't meet global best practice and contribute to system failures. It's not fair to the hundreds of thousands of commuters who rely on this tunnel in this infrastructure and that's why we're trying to change the project is a major agenda item on President biden's infrastructure list new york New Jersey Connecticut really all of the east coast requires this investment. That's why we have fought successfully for the billions of dollars that will go into the gateway project. While officials say a plan is in the works to get these projects completed, passengers hope the necessary work for a reliable ride will actually happen. You honestly never know what you're going to get into when you get on the train, but you hope for the best. In early july. Both governors of new york as well as New Jersey signed the Gateway program into its next phase, which would develop further outlines and the timing of funding for both the portal North bridge as well as the Hudson river tunnels for news 12. But even with projects like the Gateway tunnel underway, chunks of our infrastructure could be at risk because of another problem flooding, How severe weather is posing a threat to our failing foundations. When our team 12 special report continues. Here's a scene that might have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago, but last summer it actually happened. The new york city subway system crippled by flash flooding caused by thunderstorms and our investigation finds this problem is only going to get worse. Welcome back to our Team 12 Special report, failing foundations on walt, Kane hospitals, police stations, mass transit. These are all vital services, things we depend on especially in an emergency, but severe weather now threatens to shut down these critical services when they're needed most. They were seen to almost had to see to believe new york city subway stations overwhelmed by flooding, commuters forced to brave high water just to make it home. The culprit, heavy rain that pushed aging drainage systems past the breaking point. So you have to expect in New Jersey a $300 million flood control plan was no match for the remnants of IDA. I'm just trying to piece it together. This NJ transit train left stranded in high water forced a floodgate to stay open. That unleashed a deluge that destroyed homes and small businesses. I feel let down. I really do. I feel let down. I mean, we invested a lot into this place. This is everything I have. It's happening across the tri state area from washed out highways to flooded police severe weather and rising sea levels are posing a grave threat to our failing foundations. We have got to pay a whole lot more attention in terms of the resiliency of our infrastructure. The Association of State Floodplain Managers recently met at atlantic city to discuss the enormous challenge of keeping vital infrastructure going during severe weather when it's needed. Most those facilities have got not only not flood but be operational and functionally operational during these kinds of events that's getting harder Each year. The first Street Foundation recently completed an alarming study that found a quarter of all critical infrastructure in America is now at operational risk from flooding In the tri state area. Nearly 3000 police departments, power plants and other critical facilities could have to stop operating during a flood. Nearly 55,000 miles of roadway are in danger of flooding so severely. They'd be impassable events that we are having, especially here in the northeast and the mid Atlantic are becoming more extreme. We're getting heavier rainfalls. The events are moving slower through the area. Among the locations found to be at extreme risk. Laguardia Airport used by six million people every year. Fire departments like this one in Greenwich Connecticut and hospitals like Jersey City Medical Center. Most of the downtown area here where we're located right now is actually built on swampland historically. So as water levels rise, we see more and more problems from the Systems, our sewer issues, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop says his city is preparing for the next flood with tougher construction standards and a billion dollars worth of sewer improvements. But he says the city can't do it all on its own. We also need help at the federal level because a lot of it is very expensive Phillips says the infrastructure bill just passed by Congress could help it earmarks $47 billion dollars for flood prevention. That includes $12 billion $10 billion New York's transit system, some of which could be used for waterproofing. That could be welcome news for anyone who's had to wade through dirty water up to their waist just to catch the train home. It isn't just critical infrastructure that could be at risk due to flooding your home could be in danger too. A few months ago, I told you how the official fema flood maps or badly out of date, some panels literally have not been updated since the 19 seventies. That's cost some homeowners tens of thousands of dollars in damage that might have been covered if they'd only known they needed to buy flood insurance. But here's the good news with the help of the first street Foundation, we've put a tool on news 12 dot com that can give you the information you need to make smart decisions for your family. It's called risk factor and let me show you how it works. If you want the latest information about house flooding risks, just type in the address now I'm gonna put into so let's start with this one and as you can see there's good news. Flood risk Here is minimal. In fact, risk factor says this house is unlikely to be impacted by flooding over the next 30 years. Hopefully that's the result. You'll get in your search as well. But it isn't always the case. Let's try a different address now this time we'll get a very different result. Take a look, risk factor says this property is a major flood risk. It even spells it out the data indicating a 26% chance of flooding over the next 30 years. We can even dig deeper and see the breakdown, a 5% chance of flooding in the next five years, a 10% chance in the next 10 years and so on. How bad might these floods be? Well, you can find that out to risk factor says the owners of this property could get up to 4.5 ft of water in their house. If there's a major flood event. And remember this is all based on newer information than you would find in those official fema flood maps to find out your risk factor, go to news 12 dot com the severe flood that crippled new york city's subways last summer caught many commuters off guard. Many thought things should not have been that bad after all, the M. T. A. Invested in billions of dollars in flood gates and marine doors. Things that were intended to protect the world's largest transit system from flood waters. But our investigation found those floodgates were not used. The transit agency says last year's flash floods hit so quickly. The gates simply could not be deployed. Heavy rainfall events have also made flooding more unpredictable. Some of the subway stations hit hardest had no floodgates at all this past summer proved that that list is not effective because we've seen flooding in areas of the city, which we're not used to see him before. After Superstorm Sandy the M. T. A. Received nearly $8 billion in federal funding to get subways prepared for the next flood. Nearly a decade later, nearly two billion of those dollars remain unspent the M. T. A. Is now going to get billions more from the infrastructure bill officials say they hope to use that combined funding to find a long term solution. If you know about crumbling infrastructure near you may be a bad bridge or a road and you'd like us to investigate it. We want to hear from you. You can contact me at 732738 cane or email Kane in your corner at news 12 dot com when we come back. How did we get here and how much of a difference will that new federal infrastructure funding make in the effort to fix our failing foundations from crumbling bridges to obsolete rail tunnels. The tri state is dealing with some failing infrastructure. How did we get here? And what do we do to fix it for decades? America invested in infrastructure and willing hands to carry on the work from FDR's public works projects during the Depression to the Eisenhower Interstate Highway system, the greatest network of highways ever built by man. But decades of neglect have caught up with America's failing foundations across the country. 46,000 bridges are rated as structurally deficient, including more than 5% of bridges in Connecticut, more than 7% of bridges in New Jersey and nearly 10% of bridges in new york. Our infrastructure is like these bridges a catastrophe waiting to happen Late last year, President biden signed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill enough, the administration says to replace or repair two thirds of all structurally deficient bridges will once again have the best roads. Bridges fortunate the infrastructure bill means big money for the tri state. New york will get the most. Almost $27 billion that includes 11 billion for public transportation, some of which can be used to fight the impacts of climate change, Connecticut will get more than $6 billion including four billion to fix bridges and highways and New Jersey will get $13.5 billion some of which can be used to build the long delayed Gateway Tunnel, New Jersey. This is a big deal. This is a big freaking deal. As with any large government project, there are concerns about waste. So Team 12 will keep an eye on exactly how this money is spent to make sure it really does go to fix our failing foundations. I'm walt Kane for all of us at News 12. Thank you for watching.

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