Webster, N.Y. --- Surely tens of thousands of 13WHAM News viewers drive on Route 104 in Webster on a daily basis and if you're one of those folks you may have noticed a road in need of repair.
At least one of you emailed us about it.
David Kassnoff wondered why, during such a mild winter, portions of that highway are so littered with potholes.
"I drive a full-size car that has pretty good shocks and I've gone through a set of shocks in the past four or five years because that road surface has needed recurring attention," Kassnoff said of his daily commute on that road. “And they've gotten worse and worse, even if you're driving the speed limit you just realize that it's not really safe to be driving out there."
This isn't a new problem for folks who depend on this road.
Nearly four years ago to the day, in February 2008, 13WHAM News reported on similar complaints from viewers about that specific stretch of Route 104 from the Bay Bridge to as far east as Five Mile Line Road. In 2008 the New York State Department of Transportation explained to 13WHAM News that a paving system called “micro-surfacing” that had been successful elsewhere just wasn’t holding the gravel to the road.
"I was hopeful then that that would lead to some sort of remedy,” Kassnoff said of the road work and reports he recalls four years ago. “And yet we still have the potholes and the dissolving road surface and that's been very frustrating.”
A DOT Spokeswoman couldn’t say for certain if the road’s present road condition had anything to do with the 2008 situation but she did offer some “breaking news” for Route 104 commuters.
A stretch of Route 104 from the Bay Bridge to Phillips Road is scheduled for a $5 million repair this summer. The resurfacing project should begin in June or July and until then the DOT’s pothole patching crews will do their best to keep up with the trouble spots.
"I'm thrilled, I think that's the best news anybody could have,” Kassnoff responded upon learning the news. "I'm very pleased to hear they're going to look at that and get it repaved I think everybody will be happier, I know I will!”
