To say it's a rough ride around Western New York would be an understatement. 

"This is one of the worst seasons I've seen. It's awful this year," said John Caso, the Niagara Falls Public Works director.

The big problem is cold patch, the granular type of asphalt thrown into potholes and then packed down. 

"If it's raining or snowing, it can be washed out. It could buy you a few weeks. It could buy you a week. It's a big vicious circle," said Caso.

That's how potholes have to get fixed in the winter because the factories making the 'hot patch,' which is more of a liquid, don't operate when it's not construction season.

"You have to because cars are hitting it, their tires and stuff like that, but it's good money going out the window," said Caso. 

So DPW teams are working to find new ways to address the problem. 

"They want to see this last. They don't want to come back here tomorrow and do it again," said Brad Rowles, the North Tonawanda DPW superintendent.

Niagara Falls City Council has allotted $100,000 to lease the so-called 'pothole killer,' which is a machine that uses a type of cold patch that lasts longer. 

North Tonawanda is using a modified cold patch that can have a life span up to a couple years, but it does cost a lot more. When temperatures hit 30, they can also use their street sweeper to clean debris out of the holes, allowing them to use a water barrier that will help the asphalt stick better.

"This is a labor intensive job, but you'd rather spend twice as long to do it once, rather than do it five or six times," said Rowles.

While these potholes need to be fixed in the short term, the goal is to begin focusing on the long-term, paving as many roads as possible so they don't have to keep coming back year after year.

"We're going to address the larger, more clustered ones doing zipper work. We will zip out the road and square it off. Zipping the road, if we can't pave it, is the best option we have. And sealing the roads," said Caso.

Rowles added, "Our pothole complaints are way down because we're paving. And that is the answer. If we do another 10 miles of roads, 12 miles of roads this year, that's 10-12 miles of roads that we're not doing this one.”

DPW crews say the spring construction season is almost here, and they hope to use the more permanent hot patch mix starting at the beginning of April.

Municipalities only become liable for pothole damage to cars come May 1.