Winter weather leaves Palisades Parkway riddled with potholes

NEW CITY, N.Y. (WABC) -- The brutal winter weather has led to an annual ritual on area roadways: Potholes, and the campaign to fix them.

They have sprung up on the Palisades Parkway, where parts of the highway resemble the surface of the moon. There are large craters that look menacing and feel jaw-rattling driving over them.

Potholes are a fact of life every winter on every road. But parts of the Palisades are especially torn up.

We saw one disabled car abandoned with a flat tire.

Carol Gutierrez has alignment problems of her own.

"The wheel is moving and they have to check it later, I get many holes one after another," she said.

Two Assembly members from Rockland and Orange County say the deteriorating conditions are downright dangerous.

"Our greatest fear is that we'll have a calamity on that parkway, that we'll have somebody injured or somebody die," said Assemblyman Kenneth Zebrowski of Rockland County.

The lawmakers have written to the Department of Transportation, asking that repairs be put on the fast track, specifically the 17 miles from New City up to Bear Mountain.

Historically, the northern end of the Parkway has less traffic than the southern end through New Jersey to the George Washington Bridge, but that's changing.

"That road has become a major thoroughfare for the residents of Rockland and Orange County, 22 million drivers drive on that road annually and that should be a priority of the DOT," said Zebrowski.

A DOT spokesperson says no long-term decisions have been made, but that fixing the parkway is not part of this year's plans. The lawmakers hope some pressure will help change some minds.