Pothole or Cave-In on Highway

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Call 911 to report an unprotected street opening that could cause an incident.

Need something else?

You can report a pothole or cave-in on a highway.

Complaints about traffic delays due to highway maintenance are not accepted. Two highway lanes may be closed based on location and speed of traffic to facilitate repairs.

Shallow pothole in a city street filled with rainwater.

A pothole is an irregular-shaped, shallow hole or crack in the roadway surface. Its bottom is easily visible and it may be partially filled with mud, dirt, or loose gravel. The highway surface around the pothole is level.

If the defect is deep or hollow or it's located next to a catch basin, it is considered a cave-in, not a pothole.

What Happens Next

The Department of Transportation (DOT) will fill the pothole within 30 days.

Cave-in on a city street showing a deep hole with jagged edges. Trash bags and a traffic cone are inside the hole.

A cave-in is a collapse of the roadway surface in which the pavement has cracked apart and fallen into a deep empty space without a solid bottom beneath the surface. Large pieces of pavement can be seen in the hole. The edges of a cave-in are usually jagged and the surrounding roadway surface may be sunken.

What Happens Next

The Department of Transportation (DOT) investigates reports of cave-ins, determines who is responsible for restoring the roadway and then refers the cave-in to that agency or utility for repair. DOT is not responsible for the repair of any cave-ins.

Information about the agency or utility responsible for repairing the cave-in will be available within 10 days of submitting a Service Request.

These highways are serviced by the Department of Transportation (DOT):

  • Belt Parkway
  • Bronx River Parkway 
  • Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) / I-287
  • Bruckner Expressway / I-278
  • Clearview Expressway / I-295
  • Cross Bronx Expressway / I-95
  • Cross Island Parkway
  • FDR Drive (FDR)
  • Grand Central Parkway
  • Harlem River Drive
  • Henry Hudson Parkway / Route 9A
  • Hutchinson River Parkway
  • Jackie Robinson Parkway/Interboro Parkway
  • Long Island Expressway (LIE) / I-495
  • Major Deegan Expressway / I-87
  • Martin Luther King Expressway / Route 440
  • Mosholu Parkway
  • Nassau Expressway / Route 878
  • Prospect Expressway / Route 27
  • Richmond Parkway
  • Sheridan Expressway / I-895
  • Staten Island Expressway / I-278
  • Throgs Neck Expressway / I-695
  • Van Wyck Expressway / I-678
  • West Shore Expressway / Route 440
  • Whitestone Expressway / I-678

Non-Highways

These are considered streets, not highways:

  • Conduit (Queens)
  • Eastern Parkway (Brooklyn)
  • Fort Hamilton Parkway (Brooklyn)
  • Kings Highway (Brooklyn)
  • Laurelton Parkway (Queens)
  • Mount Eden Parkway (Bronx)
  • Ocean Parkway (Brooklyn)
  • Pelham Parkway (Bronx)
  • West Side (Joe DiMaggio) Highway (Manhattan)

To report potholes or cave-ins on these roads, go to the Pothole or Cave-In on Street page.

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