Repair Dangerous Bridges: Coalition Begs NY Not To Cut Funds

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — A broad-based coalition that represents thousands of transportation building trades and organized labor reps from across New York State is calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to allocate more for repairs to the state’s failing roads and bridges.

New York already has 1,700 deficient bridges and more than 7,000 miles of highway in poor condition, and those numbers will increase as a result of the reduced funding level in the state budget proposal, coalition officials said.

The Construction Industry Council of Westchester & Hudson Valley, Inc. and the broad-based coalition Rebuild New York Now pointed to nearly $5 billion earmarked for New York State under the $1.2 trillion bipartisan federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act they say should be used toward the state's dangerously deteriorating bridges and roads.

“Now is the time for Albany to meet the commitment of the federal government and maintain or grow its investment in local roads and bridges, which will help bring jobs, save New Yorkers money and keep them safer," Rebuild New York Now President Mike Elmendorf said. "It’s just the right thing to do.”

In a March 17 letter to Gov. Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrew Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, they acknowledged that the Executive Budget proposal includes a record-high $32.8 billion five-year spending plan for the state DOT and the local road system.

But the devil is in the details. Funding for the ‘State/Local Construction’ category in the 2020/21-2021/22 two-year funding program averaged $3.675 million. The proposed five-year 2023-27 plan’s average is $3.474 million.

"This amounts to an approximate $200 million decline, or a $1 billion five-year decline," they said in the letter.

New York State’s share of the IIJA totals $13.4 billion, a 52 percent increase, or $4.675 billion, in federal aid to NYSDOT. John Cooney, Jr., the CIC’s executive director, noted that on paper that is a historic increase of $1 billion a year in federal funding for New York roads and bridges. In addition, the state received in early 2021 a total of $420 million directly paid to NYSDOT as part of federal Covid-relief programs.

“If New York State makes the judicious decision to harness this additional federal aid, it will result in safer bridges and overpasses, create thousands of jobs, generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new tax revenues, and provide the resources for local and county municipalities to make our transportation safer and more reliable," Cooney said.