CBS2 Demanding Answers: Potholes Plague New Rochelle Months After Winter
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Most potholes have been filled by this time of year, but in one Westchester County city, such is not the case.
CBS2's Christine Sloan was demanding answers Thursday in New Rochelle.
Craterlike potholes can be found on the roads there, and then rows of smaller ones that send cars bouncing up and down.
"The holes are really giant, and you kind of have to like slow down to maybe like 5 miles an hour," said Ben Brooks of New Rochelle.
On the Esplanade in New Rochelle, CBS2's Sloan counted more than 20 potholes on one stretch of road. There are a lot more up the street and all around New Rochelle.
A six-foot-wide hole was found in a quaint neighborhood near Forest Avenue and Antler Place.
"They've been there all winter. You have to drive around them. It's pretty dangerous driving there," said Kaz Oplustil of New Rochelle. "It's annoying. The city knows that they're there. So, and I know a lot of neighbors have complained about it."
Indeed, drivers are complaining.
"They've been here for months and months. It's you know, why they don't get to them?" said Bill Edler of New Rochelle. "Good taxpayer dollars at work?"
CBS2 went by City Hall to get some answers from New Rochelle City Manager Chuck Strome.
Sloan: "What's going on?"
Strome: "We have few streets where the potholes are so significant that patching them will not repair them, so we have an annual street paving contract. This year, we're going to spend $3 million, and many of those roads that need to be repaved are going to be repaved."
Sloan: "Most towns, though, start doing this in March. Why has it taken so long?"
Strome: "Well, we've been filling potholes since March, but we don't repave our own streets. We have a private contract that we bid out every year, and the bids are coming in I think Monday."
Strome promised that the majority of the potholes will be fixed by the end of July. He also said crews will start repairing the worst potholes first.
