Press Releases
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release #11-53
Seth Solomonow/Montgomery Dean (212) 839-4850
NYC DOT Fills 400,000 Potholes in Fiscal Year, Launches 59-Crew, Five-Borough Pothole Blitz
Record number of potholes filled, nearly 70 percent more than in 2006
More than 2.6 million potholes repaired since 2002, $4.3 billion invested in four years to bring infrastructure into a state of good repair
New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today announced that crews have filled 400,000 potholes citywide since July 1, 2010, setting the record for potholes filled in a single fiscal year. This record number of potholes is already 68% higher than the number filled five years ago and breaks last year’s record of 395,000 potholes. The agency plans to extend its repair efforts with a pothole blitz scheduled this Saturday when 59 crews will be making repairs to streets in all five boroughs ahead of the Fourth of July weekend. DOT has filled more than 2.6 million potholes citywide since 2002.
“Thanks to the tireless work of our pothole crews, we’ve eliminated more of these public nuisances than ever following a winter of extreme weather,” said Commissioner Sadik-Khan. “There’s no rest for the weary as we’re stepping up those efforts with a citywide blitz so our roads will look their best for the holiday weekend as part of our commitment to bring New York City’s infrastructure into a state of good repair.”
The Bloomberg Administration budgeted $190.4 million for paving and pothole repair operations on city streets this year and added $2 million to those operations in February following a series of severe winter storms. Over the last four years, DOT has invested $633 million to resurface 3,600 lane-miles of streets, much of it from recycled asphalt produced in its own plant on Hamilton Avenue in Brooklyn and at the newly acquired Harper Street plant in Queens. The agency has focused its resurfacing operations on some of the most notoriously degraded roadways, including sections of the Harlem River Drive and the Belt Parkway, and is scheduled to complete 1,000 lane miles of resurfacing for the fiscal year by the end of next week. DOT has spent a total of $4.3 billion over the past four years in maintaining and upgrading New York City’s infrastructure, including the Brooklyn Bridge rehabilitation and the replacement of the Willis Avenue Bridge. Next month, contract work to resurface the north outer roadway of the Williamsburg Bridge will begin.
Earlier this year, DOT launched "The Daily Pothole" blog to track the agency's pothole-filling efforts. The site displays maps charting where pothole-filling efforts have been targeted and photos of crews making repairs. The number of potholes filled and lane miles resurfaced are updated regularly, and it allows the public to report potholes easily. The site can be viewed through DOT's home page at nyc.gov/dot or at thedailypothole.tumblr.com.
The City uses many resources to identify potholes, including through 311 and the SCOUT (Street Conditions Observation Unit) program. Residents are encouraged to call 311 to report potholes.
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