Ken Valenti

Spring is bringing a surge in potholes.

They%27re worse than ever this year after the brutal winter.

Some unfortunate motorists driving on Interstate 87 in Rockland early Thursday got a lesson that was jarring in more ways than one.

The hellish winter may be gone, but potholes? Far from it. With the thaw, the pox of craters that has plagued drivers throughout the Lower Hudson Valley for months is surging like the true first sign of spring.

They're not only more abundant than in recent years — they're bigger, some say.

"Not potholes – craters!" said Robert Figueroa of New Rochelle, gassing up his Lincoln Town Car in Mamaroneck. "They're all over the place."

He said he recently saw a car ram so hard into a monster hole on Weaver Street in Scarsdale that it blew three of the four tires.

The series of drivers who popped their tires on potholes along I-87 in West Nyack Thursday triggered 12 calls from motorists and prompted a public warning from the New York State Thruway Authority.

Highway officials across the area said the past few months have been the worst winter season for potholes in at least a couple of years.

In Putnam County roads, John Tully, deputy commissioner of highways and facilities, said it might even be the worst since the winter of 1996.

The damage in Putnam has gone beyond minor holes. Tully said the roadbeds themselves are deteriorating and need major work.

Commissioner Fred Pena said he did not know how much it would cost to rehabilitate it all, but expects the price tag to be higher than the $2 million spent last year on road maintenance. He traveled to Albany recently with two associations of highways superintendents to push for more funding for roads and bridges.

Highways chiefs are bracing for more craters as warmer weather melts ice that had expanded under the asphalt, creating potholes as it softens.

Yonkers Public Works Commissioner Thomas Meier said his department has spent $100,000 filling potholes, and expects to spend that much again with the spring thaw.

"They seem to be bigger, man-eating size potholes," he said.

Meier said the potholes are coming too fast for crews to keep up with the two trucks equipped to apply hot asphalt, even working two shifts. He has two additional crews applying more temporary cold patch and hopes to catch up on permanent repairs by the end of next week.

His advice to motorists approaching a pothole: Slow down.

"If they go over it at a high speed, they're going to get a flat tire," he said.

But the craters can be hard to avoid.

"You can't go a hundred yards without hitting a half dozen of them," said Mike Antaki, 59 of Port Chester, buying gas at the Hess station on Mamaroneck Avenue in Mamaroneck. Working in construction, he drives all over in his tool-laden van.

"You take a beating," he said. "It just rattles to pieces."

Clarkstown highways chief Wayne Ballard said the season's worst still may be a bit down the road.

"I don't think it's going to rear its ugly head for another two to three weeks when the frost is off the ground," Ballard said.

Clarkstown has set aside $200,000 for blacktop in its budget, but Ballard expects to go over that amount by $100,000.

"Something will have to be sacrificed because (fixing) the potholes in the road is the highest priority," he said.

In Ramapo, town highway superintendent Tony Sharan budgeted $500,000 for blacktop.

He's hopeful of staying within budget but it also depends on asphalt prices, which are out of his control.

Greenburgh Public Works Commissioner Victor Carosi said his department is using 9 to 12 tons of hot asphalt each day, at a daily cost of up to $1,200.

Once the holes stop popping up all over, Meier said, crews can go back and apply more permanent repairs to sections of road.

"Right now we're just in the quick-and-dirty, 'Let's fill up the potholes and get the traffic going' (phase)," he said.

Staff writers Khurram Saeed and Theresa Juva contributed to this report.

Motorists who encounter a pothole on state roads should call 1-800-POT-HOLE.

Holes found on local roads can be reported to the community's public works or highway department.