Following one of the coldest winters of recent memory, Governor Kathy Hochul has announced an unprecedented effort to fill potholes and repave roads across the New York State. Hochul announced that the state crews have plans to fill 175,000 potholes in April alone; 215 crews are set to place more than 8,000 tons of asphalt to complete this goal statewide. This is not to be a one-off thing, as there are plans in place to fill hundreds of thousands more–as the weather permits–over the months ahead.

The announcement was made on Monday, April 6, when Hochul joined the State Department of Transportation crew working in Albany. She said the winter took a toll on the state’s roads, and it was putting drivers at risk for costly repairs while they already face rising costs for things like gas. “Right now, our drivers are under enormous stress,” Hochul said. “So, if we can alleviate that by aggressively going after those potholes, that is our mission.”

“One of the reasons we focus so much on filling 100,000 potholes across the city is that it’s symptomatic of a city government that can actually take care of even the smallest tasks in New Yorkers’ lives, to prove that we can be trusted to take on the biggest problems in their lives as well,” said New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, whose own pothole filling initiative commenced the governor’s plan.

Hochul announced this will be the official start of a paving season in New York. That means about $600 million is being put towards 18 Department of Transportation paving projects, which totals an anticipated 4,000 miles across the state. “This will be the biggest year in state history for road paving,” the governor said. To support this, many of the major roads already have public plans of re-pavement planned for later this year.