Elected officials joined county, town, city and village highway superintendents Wednesday to call for increascd state funding for local roads, bridges and culverts. Hundreds of highway superintendents and department employees from nearly every region of New York State were already in Albany this week for their annual advocacy campaign to lobby for a stronger state commitment to local transportation infrastructure.
The superintendents again called on Governor Andrew M. Cuomo state legislators in the Senate and Assembly to increase funding for CHIPS (Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program) by $150M to $588M and restore Cuomo’s proposed $68M cut to a program that funds local expenses to deal with extreme winter weather.
The highway workers are upset because Cuomo touted in his 2020-2021 proposed Executive Budget that New York State is forging ahead with the nation’s most aggressive $275 billion infrastructure program. Yet, no additional funding for roads and other local projects that people drive everyday to work, despite several cautionary reports on deteriorating conditions.
Assemblyman Christopher Friend, whose district includes Tioga County and Chemung County, supports the highway supervisors and their call for increased funding.
Listen to Friend’s comments recorded after the rally on Wednesday provided by the Assembly.
Among other studies, an October 2017 report from New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli estimated locally owned bridges need at least $27.4B in repairs. An earlier report from the comptroller called 32-percent of New York’s local bridges deficient and 40-percent of local roads in “fair or poor” condition and “and getting worse.” Last September, a report by TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit organization, found 10-percent of bridges across the state are in poor/structurally deficient condition — the 12h highest rate in America.
“Safe roadways and up-to-date infrastructure keep communities growing and economies going. Our highway departments are the first to respond to bad weather in our communities and make them safe for us all,” said Friend.
