Senator Tom Libous has reintroduced a bill in Albany to prevent funds appropriated for bridge and road repair from being redirected to other uses.
The Dedicated Fund was created in 1991 to spend money on rebuilding, replacing and reconditioning highways and bridges, but the fund has been raided for unrelated state projects.
According to Libous, the Fund now spends nearly three-quarters of its disbursements on functions having nothing to do with improving bridges and highways, including operations at the DMV and routine snow and ice removal.
He adds that by putting that funding back into repairs, over $750 million would be added to road and bridge repair funds.