As a motorist or a cyclist, the feeling is all too familiar.

Driving down a city street and hitting a pothole, sometimes so hard you feel it in your bones. 

“It is like driving on the moon it takes a whole new meaning to driving, you have to zig zag, it is crazy,” explained Manhattan driver Liz Lister.

What You Need To Know

  • The Department of Transportation kicked off first seasonal pothole blitz this year

  • DOT will dispatch 60 crews across the five boroughs to address potholes on residential streets, commercial corridors, and highways

  • Drivers and cyclist are looking forward to a smoother ride

This weekend marks the kick off to pothole season. 

Department of Transportation crews were in neighborhoods across the boroughs filling any potholes they came across. 

The DOT says thousands of nuisance potholes would be filled by Saturday night.

“It is for everybody who uses our streets including the pedestrians, those who participate in the open streets program, open restaurants. Our streets have become an evermore important part of what makes this city special,” said DOT Commissioner, Hank Gutman.

The DOT says they will focus on bike lanes too. 

That is welcome news to cyclist Dominique Parrott. 

“Pretty thankful. It's costly because, you know, having to change tires and inner tubes.”

Parrott is already on his second bike of the year after his first was damaged after he hit a pothole. 

“I swerved around it and a yellow cab hit my back tire and the my back folded,” he recalled

The smell of hot asphalt is welcomed by drivers too who are looking forward to a smoother ride.

“They do a lot of damage," said another driver. "We need to get them done sooner or later before they destroy my car and every other vehicle."

The DOT says 311 calls about potholes are up this year and they say that is because of the snowy winter. 

They encourage New Yorkers to continue reporting potholes so they know where to send their crews.