BUFFALO, N.Y. — Department of Public Works as well as Sewer and Water crews will be out at several locations in the City of Buffalo today, Friday and Saturday as part of a three day blitz to fix potholes.
But why now? With the holiday weekend there is a question of liability putting those crews out on the busy streets with travelers and there is also the overtime.
"We try to address things before the holiday weekend...before people are out traveling on Sunday and Monday," explains Steve Stepniak, Buffalo Public Works Commissioner. "These streets would be done...It's more about the weather than anything."
A city spokesperson tells 2 On Your Side, DPW does pothole repairs daily, and that the blitzes happen to take advantage of favorable weather conditions.
"We're in and out very quickly. We move around. Travel is normal," says Stepniak.
On Thursday, the road crews completed 45 locations. On Friday, the plan is to complete another 60. We're still waiting to hear about plans for Saturday.
The announcement about this holiday weekend pothole blitz comes just days after 2 On Your Side reported about irate community activist, Nate Boyd, calling on the city to fix a growing sinkhole on Bailey Avenue.
"They need to come out and fix that hole before someone gets hurt," Boyd told reporter Jeff Preval.
Stepniak maintains that the blitz is not in response to Boyd's complaint, "Again this is about conducive weather. That was not a pothole. That was a cave in. You can't do that with a pothole crew. These guys aren't doing cave in's they're doing potholes. That was an owner responsibility cave in. Completely different work."
Stepniak says the difficult winter and wet spring delayed road work.
Back in February, 2 On Your Side did report that this year's complaint calls about potholes nearly doubled last year's numbers.
While Thursday and Friday are regular work hours for the pothole crews, Saturday would be an overtime day.
We reached out to a few Buffalo Common Council members to find out what they think about the pothole blitz putting city workers on the roads during a busy travel weekend and the resulting overtime.
Common council president, Darius Pridgen responded saying he's okay with the idea of getting as many potholes filled as soon as possible, considering the liabilities and dangers of leaving them the way they are.
A city spokesperson tells 2 On Your Side there have been pothole blitz's in February and April 2018.
We asked the city for a list of pothole locations that have been filled and those that still need to be done. As of Thursday evening, we did not receive that information.
Stepniak says, after the holiday weekend, more repaving projects are set to begin next week.