Residents near a stretch of the Riverside Drive Viaduct in Washington Heights complain that a stalled construction project is putting their lives at risk.

“I had a heart attack,” Jack Cole, a resident, said. “I was in pain. Heart attacks are pretty painful.”

What You Need To Know

Residents near a stretch of the Riverside Drive Viaduct in Washington Heights complain that a stalled construction project is putting their lives at risk

Many gathered near the construction site on Friday above the Henry Hudson Highway between 153rd and 161st streets to demand repair work on the viaduct be completed

The multi-million-dollar project was slated to be completed in 2022, but City Councilmember Sean Abreu said work has not taken place since last year, after about 75% of the work was done

Cole said idle construction work delayed emergency workers in getting to him when he went into cardiac arrest last year.

“They tried to get to get to us this way and they couldn’t and they ended up driving around the block,” he said.

Cole’s neighbor, stroke neurologist Elizabeth Miller, said the problem can cost lives.

“It may not sound like such a big delay to have a four-minute for a stroke, but for every minute of delay you lose 2 million neurons in your brain,” Dr. Miller said.

Miller and Cole are among hundreds of residents who have to travel through a maze of construction fences and barriers, can’t use sidewalks or their building’s main entrance.

Many gathered near the construction site on Friday above the Henry Hudson Highway between 153rd and 161st streets to demand repair work on the viaduct be completed.

Judlau, one of the city’s largest contractors, began repairing the viaduct in 2019 after the city’s Department of Transportation hired it to replace corroding steel and decking.

The multi-million-dollar project was slated to be completed in 2022, but City Councilmember Sean Abreu said work has not taken place since last year, after about 75% of the work was done.

“The DOT has gone silent,” Abreu said. “No plan, no timeline, no public communication, no accountability.”

The contractor has accused the DOT of delaying work, refusing to cover the cost of inflation and adding more work to the project.

The two sides are now embroiled in a lawsuit.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Judlau said the company never abandoned the job but, “Judlau has notified the City that sidewalk sheds are blocking access to the site and has repeatedly raised the issue of the sidewalk sheds at bi-weekly and monthly meetings.”

In a separate statement, a city DOT spokesperson said, “NYC DOT disagrees with the contractor’s comments and will respond as appropriate through the litigation. We will continue to push to get the project completed as soon as possible.”

Many residents said they’re really concerned the lawsuit between the construction company and the city could delay this work further.

Many of them demand that the city find another contractor to complete the work.