BUFFALO, N.Y. — Hertel Avenue is one of the city's many "problem child" streets when it comes to potholes.

"It's been a tough year for potholes. We had the perfect winter season for creating potholes," said Buffalo Commissioner of Public Works Steve Stepniak.

For the next three days, crews will hit 55 locations across the city, filling in those car-maiming menaces as a part of a “pothole blitz.”

"It is obviously complaint driven. But we do thorough field observations. Our inspectors are out looking at locations, because we make changes to our paving program based on need; there might be a street that wasn't so bad that's worse off this year, that we may have to make alterations to our program," said Stepniak. 

The blitz is the first real chance for the city to make lasting repairs to the roads. Crews work throughout the winter to fill problem potholes, but it isn't until the warm weather arrives that longer term fixes can be made.

"When you try to put material down, when it's wet or puddling, it doesn't hold much. It's temporary basis, like we're doing here on Hertel, there's a strip of asphalt that separates because of the freeze-thaw, we really need to get that material down there to prevent water from coming up," said Stepniak.

Hertel Avenue is one of many streets that is also going to be a part of this season's more comprehensive paving program.

The city plans to announce all the streets scheduled for that program next week.