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See Any Potholes Syracuse? (can you miss 'em?) Mayor Miner Wants to Know

Chenelle Terry/WAER News

More complaints about pot holes has Mayor Stephanie Miner calling on Syracuse residents to help the city locate and fix them. New efforts and technology by the Department of Public Works are trying to solve a deep problem.

This year’s harsh winter left Syracuse streets covered with more potholes.  Commissioner of Public Works Pete O’Connor says it’s an escalated problem.

“I believe the quantity has probably doubled and there’s no doubt that they are definitely bigger than I’ve even seen and I’m not just saying that from my own experience, we’ve had people here 35 years working in this department that are saying the same thing.”

Since the first of the month, the city has filled more than 2,000 potholes and more than 500 of those were after complaints by citizens.

Miner_on_potholes.mp3
Hear Mayor Miner give an update on the war against potholes...and what you can do to help.

Miner is urging the public to help so the city can take action.

Credit Chenelle Terry/WAER News
This big, new truck is the front line of attacking the pothole problem.

“The biggest goal is to keep our roads safe and to help our people transport themselves and their goods to where they need to go and we want to make sure that we use all of our assets including the community to tell us about where they’re really bad so we can fill them”

Miner says the goal is to fill the hole within 24 hours if possible and the DPWis doing that with two Durapatch machines that will be on the roads at all times. If you report the pothole via the complaint system at syrgov.net, you can track the repair to see how long it takes and when it’s completed.

You can also report potholes by calling 448-CITY, emailing potholes@syrgov.net  or by submitting them to the city's Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Chris Bolt, Ed.D. has proudly been covering the Central New York community and mentoring students for more than 30 years. His career in public media started as a student volunteer, then as a reporter/producer. He has been the news director for WAER since 1995. Dedicated to keeping local news coverage alive, Chris also has a passion for education, having trained, mentored and provided a platform for growth to more than a thousand students. Career highlights include having work appear on NPR, CBS, ABC and other news networks, winning numerous local and state journalism awards.