Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
De Blasio said that while rides are smoother everywhere in NYC, “the turnaround is not complete.”
By Forum Staff
The number of potholes in the five boroughs has declined by more than 50 percent – 207,306 so far this year compared to 444,835 as of Oct. 6, 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Friday.
Hizzoner pointed to a 10-year investment of $1.6 billion in street repaving as the key to the reduction. In Queens, 62,451 potholes have been repaired so far in 2017, compared to 117,312 at this time three years ago.
“Thanks to Mayor de Blasio’s unprecedented investment in paving, the quality of City roads is up and the number of pothole complaints is down,” said City Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. “This fall, our crews will continue to work – literally day and night – to provide even smoother rides. We ask that if drivers encounter a paving crew, they please give them the necessary space and maintain a safe speed as we try to pave as many streets as possible before winter weather sets in.”
De Blasio also noted that since 2014, DOT has paved 4,500 lane-miles of roadways out of 19,000 total Citywide, or nearly 25 percent. The agency on Friday named some of the major streets planned for repaving for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2018, including these borough thoroughfares:
Union Street, Northern Boulevard to 31st Road
Roosevelt Avenue, 57th to 61st streets
Roosevelt Avenue, 69th to 73rd streets
N/B Van Wyck Expressway Service Road, 138th Street to Liberty Avenue
“When we took office in 2014, a drive down many city streets could be a bone-rattling experience,” de Blasio said. “Thanks to the hard work of DOT crews, rides are smoother everywhere, on major roads like the FDR Drive to smaller residential streets in neighborhoods around the City. But the turnaround is not complete; while freshly paved streets mean many fewer potholes, we still have too many, so crews will be both quickly filling potholes and keeping up the pace of repaving in the months ahead.”
