Potholes on Long Island: What a mild winter means for roads

Long Island drivers are getting a bit of a reprieve this season — the pothole blitz that plagued the region’s roadways last winter has so far not come to pass, due to milder weather, according to construction and climate experts.

“Right now, I think we're in better shape than we were in the previous year. Last year was a tough year,” said Marc Herbst, executive director of the Long Island Contractors' Association, who added that if the weather turns in the next few weeks, more damage will ensue.

So far this year, the state Department of Transportation said they've received 135 pothole complaints on Long Island, compared to 171 during the same time frame last year.

Road conditions aren't dictated by weather alone, and Herbst said governments still need to increase funding to repair many local roads that are at the end of their lifespans.

In the seemingly never-ending war on potholes, winter weather and the accompanying "freeze-thaw cycles" are particularly brutal on roads. Water seeps into cracks in the pavement, freezes and expands under rising temperatures, and melts when the weathers warms. This pavement weakening cycle is further aggravated by vehicle and truck traffic, and potholes eventually form.

“The freeze-thaw cycle is the most important environmental factor to cause potholes,” said Ping Liu, associate research professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

Liu analyzed data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for Newsday and found there were significantly fewer freeze-thaw days at 10 weather stations on Long Island and in New York City from Sept. 1 last year through March 4, compared to the same months in 2021-2022. The most dramatic decline was in Westhampton, which has seen 54 freeze-thaw days this fall and winter season compared to 71 in 2021-2022. Montauk had 14 such days during this past fall and winter period versus 33 in 2021-2022.

“Such dramatically reduced freeze-thaw days would have made the roads on Long Island easier to survive," Liu said in an email.

More research is needed to determine how climate change impacts this season’s warming trend, which in part has been caused by "quieter" cold-air outbreaks from polar areas, he said.

But experts said there are other factors that affect the condition of the roads. Maintenance, as well as traffic volume, also play into how well a road will hold up.

For instance, the Suffolk section of the Long Island Expressway that was repaved last year after complaints from motorists and legislators, will, according to Lucius Riccio, former New York City Transportation Commissioner, likely remain intact no matter how severe the weather will be.

“I’d be astounded if there would be a pothole on the LIE in Suffolk for a number of years now, no matter how bad the winters are,” Riccio said. “They did a terrific job with it.”

On the other hand, the Nassau section of that expressway is showing signs of damage, and ruts are evident along the seams, which are more susceptible to weakening. The Nassau section was completed in 2014 and 2015. Riccio noted that state Department of Transportation engineers are well-equipped  to identify and tackle poor conditions, although funding always remains a key issue.

“They have to balance their workload with their budget,” Riccio said.

Herbst on Wednesday also said that while the state Department of Transportation aims to repair and resurface roads every 12 years, it isn’t always able to adhere to that schedule due to funding, noting that the Suffolk portion of the interstate that was completed last year hadn’t been resurfaced in over 18 years.

He called for more funding for state programs to improve the roadway network. He said many local streets on Long Island were last reconstructed as part of the Clean Water Act in 1980, when sewer installations required many roads to be reconstructed.

“Funding needs to be made available and we have to understand that we are looking at a potential crisis for all the residential streets on Long Island,” he said.

Huntington Town Highway Superintendent Andre Sorrentino Jr. said that it costs about $200,000 per mile to pave a road and joined Herbst in calling for more money to make roads safer.

The DOT “works around the clock to aggressively address potholes as they develop,” according to Stephen Canzoneri, an agency spokesman.

The state capital plan will fund the continued reconstruction of State Route 347 in Suffolk County and approximately $90 million in pavement resurfacing on Long Island this year, including portions of the Long Island Expressway between Exits 67 and 69; and the Northern State Parkway from Meadowbrook State Parkway to Wantagh State Parkway.