NYS Dept. of Transportation employee filling pothole
The New York State Department of Transportation is at work filling potholes after a cold winter.
The DOT will have 215 crews out during the month of April to place more than 8,000 tons of asphalt to fill an anticipated 175,000 potholes statewide. Plans are in place to fill hundreds of thousands more as the weather permits over the months ahead.
Governor Kathy Hochul said, “We’ve had an unforgiving winter this year in New York, and the frigid cold and heavy snowfall can take a toll on our roads. That’s why we are stepping up with an unprecedented state effort to repave hundreds of miles of roadway and fill hundreds of thousands of potholes in the next few weeks alone.”
Hochul said that as the paving season begins, NYSDOT crews will commence the most ambitious year of road improvements in state history.
These projects, which total almost 2,150 lane miles, are in addition to the paving initiatives already scheduled as part of NYSDOT’s core programs and, taken together, represent the most ambitious annual road resurfacing program conducted in state history, totaling more than 4,000 lane miles of renewed pavement.
Work being done in Chautauqua County by New York State includes:
– I-86 in the Towns of Sherman and North Harmony
– I-86 in the Towns of Ellicott and Poland
– US 20 in the Town of Westfield
– State Route 394 Village of Lakewood
Motorists are urged to call 1-800-POTHOLE (1-800-768-4653) to report potholes on any State-owned highway, including the Thruway. Potholes on county or town roads, city and village streets, or private roadways should be reported to the appropriate owner.
Potholes are formed primarily due to infiltration of water into pavements through cracks in the surface. Cold weather causes the water to freeze, creating a bulge in the pavement. When the temperature warms above freezing, the pavement surface returns to its original level. Subsequent freeze-thaw cycles weaken the pavement material and a pothole forms. The process repeats itself during subsequent freeze-thaw cycles and potholes become worse and more numerous. Heavy traffic also contributes to the creation of new potholes and the worsening of existing ones.
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