Good Question: Who’s responsible for fixing the ‘worst road’ in Rochester?

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Over the past week, News10NBC’s Brennan Somers has been hearing from several neighbors upset with what they call the "worst road in the city.”

One by one– the Good Questions came in:

Who is responsible for maintaining Carlson Road in the city? The road is a dangerous hazard to cars and pedestrians. If the city is not responsible then who is? The road is full of potholes. Some are as much as 12" wide and 6-8" deep. Be ALERT or a hole will grab you.

So our News10NBC team went out there to see Carlson Rd. ourselves. It’s just about 1/3 of a mile long and runs between Humboldt St. and Blossom Rd.

It’s not a major road by any means, but it is a busy spot. It’s home to Comedy at the Carlson and Radio Social.

What Somers and the crew saw out there was pretty rough—wide and deep potholes, cracks in the pavement along with evidence of old patch jobs.

People who live nearby started chatting about this online last week then reached out to Somers for solutions. He started asking around. Rochester city officials told Somers they don’t own it.

Carlson is a private road.

The News10NBC team went back out again to locate the owners a day after speaking with the city and neighbors. You know what we saw the second time? A contractor who just happened to be out filling those huge potholes.

He pointed us to the owners— a group called Landsman Development Corporation.

Somers did hear from Landsman management this week and got this response:

"Carlson Road, and the adjacent Carlson Park, is privately owned by Landsman Development Corporation and is solely meant to be used by its tenants, employees, vendors and customers. Yet, over the years it has become a main thoroughfare for the public.
Safety is of the utmost importance at Landsman. Each spring, we routinely repair the inevitable potholes that result from winter snow plowing and additional wear and tear from outside traffic. In fact, we made some repairs to Carlson Road last Friday, June 11. The City of Rochester has partnered with us in the past to make the repairs, since for many years, Carlson Road has been used primarily by city motorists as a shortcut from Blossom Road to Humboldt Street. We are hopeful for the City’s ongoing support and will work to ensure the safety of all motorists who use Carlson Road."

-Kurt E. Ziemendorf President/CEO of Landsman Real Estate Services, Inc.

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