Road crews are out all over New Jersey fixing potholes left in the wake of winter weather.

Jersey City has contracted with a Pennsylvania company that brings a serious piece of equipment to tackle the job.

The “pothole killer” is a large machine driven by Alvin Davis. It uses air to clean out the pothole, applies emulsion and then a gravel pitch – all from a joystick in the cockpit.

“It minimizes the amount of manpower required,” says Acting Jersey City Department of Public Workers Director Greg Kierce.

It would normally take a crew of four of five people with regular equipment to make the repairs.

Jersey City native Brian Mills supervises and keeps track of the potholes that people report in the city via a website or sometimes in person. The crews fixed at least 85 potholes on Friday. Mills calls it more of a depression than a pothole, and that’s what some New Jerseyans feel like when they hit one – depressed.

New Jersey’s old roads and massive amounts of traffic – including trucks and almost daily freeze/thaw cycles make potholes develop around this time of year. Complaining about them is almost a New Jersey tradition.

“This has been a particularly tough winter statewide,” says Kierce. “We’re dealing like a lot of municipalities with a lot of potholes.”

In addition to the two “pothole killers,” Jersey City also uses traditional work crews to fill in the holes. Officials say that they are well up into the thousands in the number being filled.