NYC’s Crumbling Infrastructure On Full Display As Century-Old Water Line Floods Times Square

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is dealing with yet another problem: A century-old water pipe broke early Tuesday, flooding midtown streets and the city’s busiest subway station.

Rohit Aggarwala, commissioner of NYC’s Department of Environmental Protection, told AP News the 20-inch water line erupted around 0300 ET under 40th Street and Seventh Avenue. The pipe was installed 127 years ago. Videos uploaded on X, formerly known as Twitter, show water flooding into the Times Square subway station.

Just before 3 AM, a water main break in Times Square sent approximately 1.8 million gallons of water rushing into the subway, causing major disruptions on the 1/2/3 lines.

Our crews quickly sprang into action, pumping water out of the system & inspecting infrastructure so we… pic.twitter.com/B2KNvHDnH5

— MTA (@MTA) August 29, 2023

A water main break in Times Square occurred around 3 a.m. Tuesday.

The break happened at Seventh Avenue between 39th and 40th streets. Officials said that they won’t know the cause of the break until they excavate.

Read more: https://t.co/RQz9Av45rd pic.twitter.com/rH2IjFbOe1

— PIX11 News (@PIX11News) August 29, 2023

Aggarwala said DEP crews found the leak about an hour after the break and were able to stop the flow. Crews are working on 40th Street and Seventh Avenue to fix the century-old pipe. The disruption has led to a suspension in subway service in much of Manhattan, including on the 1, 2, and 3 lines, which run underneath the construction area.

This water main break draws more attention to the financial capital of the world’s aging infrastructure, such as bridges, roads, and sidewalks.

Besides crumbling infrastructure, NYC finds itself in a migrant crisis, surging violent crime, and a commercial real estate downturn in office towers that might unleash a doom loop threatening to impede the local economy, erode municipal tax inflows, and stifle an economy recovery.