Traditionally, the roadwork season in Western New York starts in March, just after St. Patrick's Day. But this year it hit a major roadblock.   

"We were hoping to be on the roads already. Obviously, the weather’s been holding us back from doing any of that work," said Bill Geary, Erie County commissioner of Public Works.

About 30 days behind schedule, Geary is announcing his 2018 Road Program initial list of roads targeted for repair or paving.

"With the list that we put out we're trying to get the in-crews, the in-house forces where we can maximize the amount of money that we're spending and get those roads rehabilitated fast," he said.

Geary says roads on the list were prioritized based on the complaints from residents. One of those roads: Lakeview from Route 20 to Route 62 in Hamburg.

"That road really came apart pretty fast. The potholes have been tremendous, it's been documented through the calls into our office and our districts. So, we had to elevate some of those and truthfully we've been trying to get out there sooner. We'd love to get out there and pave that road instead of having to patch it," said Geary.

The initial phase also includes roads in Clarence, Aurora, Concord and Amherst. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz tweeted Thursday $8 million has been allocated for the initial projects, a small part of $28 million slated for infrastructure improvements this year.   

"$28 million is a good attempt at what we're going towards, but it's still absent of a federal program that really puts some significant dollars into fixing bridges, roads and infrastructure in general," Geary said.

Geary says he expects crews to hit the roads in the next few days as long as weather permits.

"We're still hopeful that the temperatures will be above 50 and less rain. We can't really do any paving if the roads are wet. We do have a lot of maintenance that still needs to be done before we can do the actual paving. We're about 30 days behind but if the future outlook keeps turning the way it is, we should be able to catch back up on those projects," said Geary.

For a complete list of the projects, click here.