Nassau County To Use Apps As Part Of Ambitious Plan To Resurface Hundreds Of Miles Of Troublesome Roads
MINEOLA, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- There are some crumbling roads on Long Island that are in bone-rattling and teeth-jarring need of repair.
Many have been left to deteriorate for decades.
Now, one county has a plan to download drivers' complaints, offering a new timetable website for a fix, CBS2's Jennifer McLogan reported Wednesday.
Nick Salamoni of Levittown pulled into a parking lot and off the road, joining a chorus of boos.
"The roads are a horror," Salamoni said.
"They'll wreck your car," another driver added.
Drivers say providing safe and well maintained roads is a fundamental responsibility of local government.
"They mess up your steering wheel motion," one driver said.
"In fact, I got a flat tire," another said.
"Every road we go on is a mess," another added.
Nassau County has 1,600 miles of roadway, much of it deteriorating. Some of the problems are weather related, but many blame a decade of poor coordination with utilities, like when the same road is dug up multiple times.
"Every time you cut a road open that road falls apart that much quicker," Nassau County Department of Public Works Commissioner Kenneth Arnold said. "There was a lack of roads being addressed over time and a need to catch up. All that leads to where we are today."
There's now a new way residents can directly communicate with the county. New apps were unveiled Wednesday. Drivers lodge specific trouble-spot complaints and can learn who is responsible -- village, town, city, county, state or federal -- when the road was last resurfaced and future plans.
"Making sure we are doing this as efficiently and quickly and promptly as possible, because we understand roads are an issue and they have been crumbling," County Executive Laura Curran said.
MORE: Nassau County Promises New Approach To Pothole Plague
Federal and state laws require the county to respond to every complaint by at least studying the area, and determining a fix.
"The average driver is spending more than $700 a year to repair their vehicles due to the bad roads," AAA New York spokesman Robert Sinclair said.
AAA New York said that leaves the county with legal liability. Drivers' main concerns include accidents and damage caused by potholes.
The new push in Nassau means 200 miles of road will now be resurfaced, triple the pace of recent years.
The county has told taxpayers it is using $65 million from its capital plan to pay for the resurfacing.
For more information on the Nassau County road apps, please click here and here.
