$290,000 Pothole Machine Sputters, But Has Fewer Jobs This Year

Eight looooonnggg minutes

Warm weather has allowed the city to fill only 164,000 potholes this year so far compared to 274,000 last year, but that doesn't mean the city is letting up. Mayor Bloomberg and DOT Commissioner Jeanette Sadik-Khan were on hand for a demo of the new Python 5000 pothole-filling machine that fills holes in an average of 2 minutes and costs $290,000. Yet it took more than eight minutes to fill the hole. "As you can see, it's hard to operate," Bloomberg said. "But they will learn how to use this." If not, they'll feel Warmy's wrath.

The city is just renting the machine for $2,500/month for a three-month trial (its patchwork was described as "less-than-elegant, sort-of-patched"). Here's how the Python is supposed to work: smooth and fast. The city is also experimenting with a Rosco spray-injection pothole filler. If you dig pothole-filling porn (and who doesn't?) take a gander.

Also of note: the city plans on spending $177 million on road resurfacing and pothole filling this year, and all potholes will be filled with 100% recycled asphalt. According to the Post, there's only 161 pending pothole requests, compared with 3,569 at this time last year. We know there's more potholes out there people, pick up the phone and put the Python to work.