More highway repair workers needed to fix NYC’s ‘deadly’ pothole problem: unions
There are a million potholes in the naked city — and not enough workers to fill them.
“We just don’t have the manpower to do the job in a timely manner,” said Joe Puleo, president of Local 983 of District Council 37, which represents assistant highway repairers.
He and other union leaders estimate the bumper crop of potholes produced by a brutal winter won’t be completely fixed until June — despite Mayor Mamdani’s promises of repairs within two days of reporting a crater.
He and Robert McFarland — who heads DC 37’s Local 376, which reps highway repairers – said the city needs to hire at least 200 more highway workers to get the job done.
The pothole crisis is already deadly; a 46-year-old man was killed Monday after his stand-up scooter struck a pothole on Liberty Avenue in Ozone Park, Queens.
“The roads are now used by more electric bikes and scooters than ever, so it’s imperative the city takes action,” said Puleo. “It’s one thing to blow a tire from a pothole while driving, but when you ride a bike you can suffer severe injuries.”
As of last week, New Yorkers had made over 11,300 pothole complaints, a stagger 33% surge from the same period in 2025, according to a Post analysis of 311 data.
Potholes form when water seeps through pavement cracks and freezes, causing the liquid to expand and push the road surface outward. Rock salt used to melt ice on streets accelerates this process.
The DOT insisted road-repair staffing is at an all-time high, totaling 976 as of Feb. 27, compared to 864 in 2019 before the pandemic.
“We consistently meet or exceed our goals of repaving more than 1,100 lane miles of street each year and have filled more than 10,000 potholes in the last week alone,” agency spokesman Vincent Barone said.
“Following the historic winter weather we’ve seen this year, our crews are now out in full force — day and night — to fill potholes and deliver full street repavings in all five boroughs.”
The DOT and Mayor Zohran Mamdani also announced a “citywide pothole repair blitz” that began Saturday morning and will include more than 80 DOT crews filling thousands of potholes daily.
Similar repair blitzes are planned in the weeks ahead.
