A tough winter has wreaked havoc on city streets, and drivers are dealing with some very bumpy rides. NY1′s Steve Kastenbaum filed the following report.
There’s no avoiding them. They seem to be on every street and at every intersection: deep, car crunching craters.
Potholes are nothing new here in the wake of snowstorms, but we’ve had so many freeze and thaw cycles over the past few weeks, and that seems to have turned the city’s streets into one giant obstacle course.
Cars on 14th street had to navigate a minefield between Eighth Avenue and Ninth Avenue.
“I’ve been living in New York my whole life,” said one driver. “I’ve never seen so many potholes and such dangerous situations driving I’ve seen in the last four, five, six days.”
Two blocks away on 15th and 10th Avenue, drivers faced another scarred street surface.
“I think they’ve got to get these streets improved a little bit,” said one driver.
What words would you use to describe the condition of the roads in the five boroughs? Read New Yorkers’ thoughts.
If you think this year is particularly bad, you may be right. The Department of Transportation says that crews have filled over 64,000 potholes throughout the city since January 1.
“We’ve had really tough weather conditions,” he said. “So it’s something we’ve actually been talking about internally, how do we improve the response to potholes, and how do we make it as lasting as it can be in a really tough circumstance.”
It’s been challenging for drivers, too, many of whom said their cars have been damaged.
“This couple of days, I have three flat tires,” said one driver. “Every single street I go is big, big mess.”
“Of course, I am very worried about my car right now because I can hear a lot of noise already in the front end,” said another. “So obviously, something that’s already gone wrong to the front end.”
The city is trying to get on top of the problem. The DOT is sending out 50 crews to fill potholes on Saturday and 15 on Sunday. They’ll also be targeting some badly chewed-up sections of the city’s highways.
While all of those road crews are out filling potholes over the weekend, there may be an additional problem, as traffic may be backed up since lanes are often closed down so workers can be safe when they do the repair work.
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via Great Local News: New York http://ift.tt/1iZiLP1
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