NYC to repair more potholes than expected

Mayor de Blasio has announced that the Department of Transportation was able to repave more roadways than it had originally budgeted, meaning that streets needing attention throughout the city will soon be repaved ahead of schedule.

Because of good weather and cheaper oil, a key ingredient in asphalt, road crews will be able to repave an additional 65 miles citywide, the mayor’s office reported. Those 65 miles will be on roads needing repair in all five boroughs.

Now, with the additional asphalt, roads that will soon see repaving include Gun Hill Road, Bronx Park East and East 233rdStreet in the Bronx; North and South Conduit Boulevard in Brooklyn; Utopia Parkway and Ditmars Boulevard in Queens; Third Avenue in Manhattan; and Richmond and Forest Hill roads in Staten Island, the mayor said.

“From Gun Hill Road up in the Bronx down to the streets around the Staten Island Mall, drivers all around the city will be feeling the effects,” de Blasio stated.

The city had originally planned for 1,200 miles to be repaved by June 30 after the mayor had invested $1.6 billion, spread over the next 10 years, toward the resurfacing of New York City’s roads, according to de Blasio’s office.

“DOT work crews, from those producing asphalt to those putting it down on our roads, deserve serious credit for stepping up to keep our roadways smoothly paved and safe,” DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenbergsaid. “Because of their hard work, New Yorkers are both enjoying smooth rides and noticing fewer potholes, with complaints down by almost 50 percent this year.”

In December 2015, de Blasio announced that FDR Drive, for the first time in 50 years, had been comprehensively repaved, and in March, the mayor and Trottenberg announced that 1 million potholes had been filled.