A record-breaking winter has left city streets in disrepair, with new potholes popping up every day.
In less than seven weeks, the Department of Transportation (DOT) has filled 27,000 potholes in Queens and 113,131 citywide – the “most potholes ever filled at this point of the year in the history of New York City,” according to Mayor Bill de Blasio.
To facilitate and accelerate the road repairs, the city has allocated an additional $7.3 million to the DOT.
De Blasio put on the neon DOT jacket and filled one hefty Maspeth pothole Thursday alongside DOT officials who detailed their new “comprehensive pothole and maintenance plan to make filling faster and more efficient.”
Starting this weekend, the DOT will begin repaving roads where “we need to go above and beyond,” said DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg.
They have additionally adopted new “cutting edge materials” and plan to partner with local engineering schools, national experts and the Department of Sanitation.
“This winter has been a challenge so far,” Trottenberg said. “We are not resting easy. We know there is going to be a lot more to do.”
The mayor said heavy snow over the past two months has brought “unprecedented” wear and tear to streets. The record snowfall brought upon an “intensified use of snow plows,” a freeze-and-thaw cycle on the streets, as well as increased salt-distribution, all of which have contributed to a significant number of new potholes.
“Winter 2014 has literally made it into the record books. It is a book we would like to close as quickly as possible,” de Blasio said. “This reality has caused us to have a performance level from the DOT we have never seen before.”
Fifty crews are working to fill the potholes, which take just a few minutes to complete depending on the crater’s size. The DOT primarily uses 3-1-1 complaints to target and repair streets.
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