If you drive on the Van Wyck Expressway, you’re in for a smoother ride.
The State Department of Transportation (DOT) kicked off repairs on the roadway on Tuesday, May 4.
From the Belt Parkway northbound to Atlantic Avenue and southbound from Liberty Avenue to the Belt, the agency is replacing the top two inches of asphalt.
The fix was necessitated due to the weather, according to Adam Levine, spokesperson for the State DOT, NYC office.
“We had a really bad, snowy winter and a wet spring,” he said, noting that the agency had hoped the pavement would hold up a little longer, but “things got really bad really quickly.”
The overnight repairs (from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.) will affect mostly the right two lanes, pitted thanks to truck traffic, according to Levine.
“They tend to put the most pressure and stress on the roadway,” he said.
Levine said that they hope to get between two and five years from this new batch of asphalt – at a cost of about $650,000 – dependant on the weather, and that more permanent repairs would go much deeper – eight to 12 inches.
He also noted that the City DOT regularly fills potholes, so “between the two of us we try to keep the Van Wyck moving” for the 140,000 to 150,000 cars per day.
Levine said that work is expected to be completed on Thursday, May 13.
