Pothole patrol: News 12 tags along with Orangetown Highway Department to see how they fix potholes

Orangetown tells News 12 they fixed 280 potholes in 2022, 69 in 2023 and now 20 so far this year.

Diane Caruso

Jan 30, 2024, 10:27 PM

Updated 314 days ago

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News 12 tagged along with the Orangetown Highway Department to see how they fix potholes. 
"We do ask the public to help us because we have over 600 streets and 150 miles of road and we can't be on them every single day,” said Orangetown Highway Superintendent James Dean to News 12 on Tuesday at the highway yard in Orangeburg.
Dean asks the public to tell his office about potholes so they can address them.
It is important to note that the town can only fix the ones on town roads.
News 12 saw a pair of workers fill in potholes on Railroad Avenue in Pearl River Tuesday morning.
Orangetown tells News 12 they fixed 280 potholes in 2022, 69 in 2023 and now 20 so far this year.
"Potholes can cause damage to vehicles. It can cause damage where someone tries to avoid a pothole and runs into another car,” said Dean. “None of us want to go through those kind of streets and we take pride here in Orangetown that that's not the norm."
Eight years ago, they started to use recycled materials, like asphalt from their other projects, to patch things up in the winter.
Dean says having their own resources helps reduce costs and means they always have it available.
Orangetown also has a pavement preservation program which focuses on improving 10% of their roads every year.