New York, USA – Labour unions in New York City have called for the hiring of additional highway repair workers to address a surge in potholes across the city following severe winter weather.
Okay News reports that union leaders say the current workforce is insufficient to repair the large number of damaged roads in a timely manner.
Joe Puleo, president of Local 983 of District Council 37, which represents assistant highway repairers, said the city lacks enough personnel to deal with the growing problem.
He, alongside Robert McFarland, head of DC 37’s Local 376 representing highway repairers, estimated that at least 200 additional workers are required to effectively manage road repairs.
Union officials warned that the situation could persist for several months, suggesting that many potholes created during the harsh winter might not be fully repaired until June.
The issue has already led to a fatal incident after a 46-year-old man reportedly died when his electric scooter struck a pothole on Liberty Avenue in the Ozone Park area of Queens.
Data from the city’s 311 service shows that residents had filed more than 11,300 pothole complaints as of last week, representing a 33 percent increase compared to the same period in 2025.
Potholes typically form when water enters cracks in road surfaces and freezes, expanding and pushing the pavement outward. The use of rock salt to melt ice can further accelerate the deterioration.
However, the New York City Department of Transportation said its staffing levels are currently at their highest point, with 976 road-repair workers as of February 27, compared with 864 before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019.
The agency said its crews have filled more than 10,000 potholes in the past week and continue to repave more than 1,100 lane miles of streets annually.
Meanwhile, Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, and the transportation department have launched a citywide pothole repair campaign involving more than 80 road-repair crews working daily to fix thousands of damaged road sections across the city’s five boroughs.
