Public works crews have already patched 2,000 potholes on Syracuse streets in April, but there are so many more, they now have their own email address.
City officials Tuesday unveiled a new pothole repair truck and called on residents to help report potholes around town. A quarter of those repaired so far came from city complaints, officials said.
Finding more shouldn't be a problem.
"There’s no doubt about it, the quantity has probably doubled," this year, said Department of Public Works Commissioner Pete O'Connor. "And there’s no doubt that they are definitely bigger and deeper than I’ve ever seen."
O'Connor said his crews are repairing about 150 potholes a day.
The new pothole repair truck, the city's second, can repair an average hole in the road in about 30 seconds, with a patch job that should last about five years. That's much longer than patch jobs done manually.
Public works employee Kevin Hunter said he repaired one on Hawley Avenue this week that was so big, it took nine minutes to patch.
City resources have already been strained by a cold winter that broke an above-average number of water mains. Syracuse will repair as many potholes as it can afford to, Mayor Stephanie Miner said.
"Obviously this has been a hard winter, but what we have said is we’re going to do what we can do within our budget," she said.
The city is using state and federal funds to help pay for street repairs, Miner said.
Residents that want to report potholes can email potholes@syrgov.net, call 448-CITY, tweet to @Syracuse1848 or use the city's website to submit a service request.
The city's goal is to respond to pothole repair requests within 24 hours.
Larger street repair projects, like resurfacing part of Erie Boulevard, are slated to begin next week, O'Connor said.
