A pothole is an irregular-shaped, shallow hole or crack in the roadway surface. Its bottom is easily visible and it may be partially filled with mud, dirt, or loose gravel. The highway surface around the pothole is level.

If the defect is deep or hollow or it's located next to a catch basin, it is considered a cave-in, not a pothole.

A cave-in is a collapse of the roadway surface in which the pavement has cracked apart and fallen into a deep empty space without a solid bottom beneath the surface. Large pieces of pavement can be seen in the hole. The edges of a cave-in are usually jagged and the surrounding roadway surface may be sunken.

These highways are serviced by the Department of Transportation (DOT):

• Belt Parkway
• Bronx River Parkway 
• Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) / I-287
• Bruckner Expressway / I-278
• Clearview Expressway / I-295
• Cross Bronx Expressway / I-95
• Cross Island Parkway
• FDR Drive (FDR)
• Grand Central Parkway
• Harlem River Drive
• Henry Hudson Parkway / Route 9A
• Hutchinson River Parkway
• Jackie Robinson Parkway/Interboro Parkway
• Long Island Expressway (LIE) / I-495
• Major Deegan Expressway / I-87
• Martin Luther King Expressway / Route 440
• Mosholu Parkway
• Nassau Expressway / Route 878
• Prospect Expressway / Route 27
• Richmond Parkway
• Sheridan Expressway / I-895
• Staten Island Expressway / I-278
• Throgs Neck Expressway / I-695
• Van Wyck Expressway / I-678
• West Shore Expressway / Route 440
• Whitestone Expressway / I-678