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CBS2 Investigates: As Winter Sets In, What Is Being Done To Fix The City's Pothole Problem?

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Potholes have become just another part of the daily grind for New Yorkers. So much so that a national study found more than 50 percent of New York's roads are in poor condition.

As CBS2's Dave Carlin reported, the ride may get a lot bumpier.

From cracks and crumbles to huge craters, navigating the city's streets can feel more like driving on the moon.

"Whenever driving through this street you always have to make sure to slow fown, otherwise you hit a big pothole," Abraham Friedman said.

Hitting a big pothole, like the one on West 137th Street costs drivers as much as $700 a year in repairs according to AAA's Robert Sinclair.

"This is an ongoing problem. Crews have to be out doing their roaming pothole repair on a regular basis. Otherwise we fall quickly behind," Sinclair said.

Some work is being done, but neighbors complain that they are just patches, band-aid solutions that won't last.

"I think it would be better to have a more permanent street. That would be the right thing to do," Friedman said.

Many experts agree, the city should be paving instead of patching.

"Road resurfacing is very costly, but it's an essential part of maintaining roads," former City Transportation Commissioner Lucius Riccio said.

Riccio has spent years analyzing the cost of repairing potholes on the city's nearly 6,000 miles of streets.

"The city does a superb job at filling potholes. The question is, why are there so many potholes in the first place," he said.

Riccio said patching works in the short term, but insisted that the city needs to develop a more realistic plan for improving its infrastructure.

"My formula projects that we're going to have several hundred thousand potholes this winter. Back 25-years-ago we only had about 80,000 ," he said.

"We got an old, old city with an old, old infrastructure," Sinclair added.

The bottom line is that patching is cheaper and Sinclair said it's getting too expensive to permanently repair and pave everything.

"Major projects need to be undertaken to repair city streets, and that doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon," Sinclair said.

New York City's current DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said the Big Apple's roads are actually in better condition than they were at this time last year, with pothole complaints down.

"So far the roads are in pretty good condition this year," she said, "Our crews are active all year round fixing potholes."

We've had good luck with weather, but as the winter sets in experts say we're in for a much bumpier ride.

"Drivers need to prepare themselves for the coming pothole season," Sinclair said.

The best way to do that is maintain proper tire pressure, which helps minimize damage if you do hit a pothole.

Engineering experts say using asphalt from recycled rubber can help the city's roads last up to 30 percent longer.

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