Gov. Hochul’s Call to Add $800M to Budget Will Help Fix our Bad Roads and Bridges
$250M Needed for DOT Local Roads CHIPS Program
By MaryJane Shimsky
Our road and bridge networks are essential public amenities. Our economy, our society, even our mass transit systems cannot run properly without roads and bridges that are in a good state of repair. Moreover, deficient roadways amount to a hidden tax on our state’s motorists and businesses—as much as $1,828 per motorist per year in the Hudson Valley, according to a study by TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit organization.
Yet anyone who travels in New York knows that our roads and bridges are as bad as any in the Northeastern United States; and anyone who travels in the Hudson Valley knows that our roads and bridges are as bad as any in our state.
For many years, I have been proud to work with a broad coalition of individuals and organizations, including the Construction Industry Council, the Building & Construction Trades Council and numerous legislative colleagues and constituents to improve our roads and bridges. And this year, we have some good news for New York residents: Gov. Kathy Hochul has added a historic $800 million to the remaining two years of the State Department of Transportation’s current five-year capital budget to repair our crumbling roads and bridges.
This investment will help our repair schedules keep track with the rate of inflation. And these repairs are essential to our state’s economic development. They will make our roads and bridges safer for all who travel on them, and they will increase the number of good middle-class union jobs in our communities.
Gov. Hochul also has proposed a series of legislative fixes to protect our road workers from dangerous driving and from assaults by disgruntled drivers. These proposals will protect our workers and impose some badly needed caution and civility on our roads.
This one-time investment will not be enough to turn around our crumbling road network. Local roads comprise 85% of our road network, and they, too, need increased investment to keep up with inflation. That is why organizations like the CIC, the BCTC and the State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways all support a $250 million increase for our local roads through CHIPS ( the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program).
We also need continued investment in future years to get the roads and bridges that New York residents want and deserve. But this year’s State Executive budget is a good start.