BUFFALO (WBEN) - It's that time of year. After a typical Buffalo winter, we find ourselves navigating potholes that can not only make for an uncomfortable ride, but cost you at the auto repair shop as well.
But something is a little different this year.
Buffalo Public Works Commissioner Mike Finn says his department is not getting as many calls from residents about potholes this year.
"The freeze-thaw cycle I do not believe was as harsh as it's been in past years," said Finn. "There's also some thought that the reduced amount of traffic from COVID is potentially related to that. It's freeze-thaw, it's traffic, it's the movement - that whole interaction is what potentially causes potholes, and less traffic could mean less potholes."
Erie County Public Works commissioner Bill Geary noted similar findings as Finn, saying they're not getting as many complaints as they typically would, and of course, that's saving the county money.
In terms of dollars and cents, Geary said the easier pothole season has actually made a sizeable impact on their budget because cold patch costs about twice as much as hot patch.
"What we're seeing is about 50% savings from last year," said Geary. "However, that money isn't just going to go into a savings account, it will be put back into hot patch going forth and maybe expanding some of the paving jobs."
Geary explained that they developed their budget in the third quarter of 2020, and due to the pandemic, they're roads program, which is typically budgets $42-$45 million was scaled back to $25-$30 million.
However, with the cold patch savings and major bump in CHIPS funding from the state, he noted that the dollars are certainly there for a productive construction season.
"It's nice to see that the dollars are coming in, and now our demands are trying to meet the deadlines to get all this work done in one construction season," said Geary.
"We have plenty of candidate roads to pave, and most of them are secondary and tertiary type roads," he continued. "We've been focusing since 2012 on all our major collectors and arterial type roads. We're seeing dividends on that because we're seeing some of the complaints going down, but with 1,200-some miles of road, the County of Erie's infrastructure is never in a shortage of work to be done."
