Highway Chiefs Testify

ALBANY, NY (12/10/2010)(readMedia)-- Leaders of statewide associations representing locally-elected and appointed highway superintendents, public works commissioners, county and town governments, and the construction trades, consultants, engineers and equipment suppliers testified before the State Assembly Transportation Committee this week to describe to lawmakers the dire condition of the local transportation system and the need to make funding local roads and bridges a greater State priority.

Presenting testimony on behalf of the two statewide associations of public works commissioners and highway superintendents was Randy Gibbon, P.E., Co-Chairman of the Legislative Committee for the New York State County Highway Superintendents Association (NYSCHSA). He was joined by Roger W. Wolfe, President of the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways (NYSAOTSOH).

The group reported to the Assembly panel, chaired by Assemblyman David Gantt, that the twenty-year needs of the local system exceed both that of the MTA and State DOT. According to a recent study by the State Comptroller, local roads have a capital need of $175.2 billion. At the current funding levels, over $56 billion of this will go unfunded.

"New York State is burdened with a rapidly decaying and severely underfunded local transportation system that will undermine its status in the national economy unless the State and the public embrace infrastructure investment and support innovative and stable long-term funding mechanisms," Gibbon and Wolfe stated.

Earlier this year, New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli issued a major report on the condition of the State's transportation infrastructure. The Comptroller confirmed that the infrastructure maintained by local governments is in dire need of repair and modernization. The report stated that roughly one-third of the 8,535 bridges maintained by New York's local governments are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete and this number increased between 2002 and 2007, from 2,966 to 3,006 bridges. The DOT indicates that the number of deficient bridges will increase by 1,500 in the next few years.

To drive this reality home, Gibbon and Wolfe reported that DOT just closed a State bridge on a town road in Wayne County. This bridge is a single lane truss typical of those that span the Erie Canal. Even though the bridge averages over 4,000 crossings per day, there is no plan to address the deficiencies to allow the bridge to be used while waiting for its replacement, scheduled for late 2012.

The highway chiefs predicted that this is not the first and unlikely to be the last of this type of incident. The closing of bridges now and then may appear to much of the general public as an isolated incident, particularly if the loss of a crossing does not directly impact them. But the deterioration that leads to such bridge closings is systemic. It is a reminder that current underinvestment makes it impossible to maintain even a 20th century transportation system, much less provide one that will allow us to be competitive in the current global economy.

The State's Five Year Capital Plan, developed by the State Department of Transportation, establishes a benchmark for funding transportation in New York at an absolute minimum level to maintain the current system. The funding levels for the Two Year Capital Plan approved by the State this year fell well below those prescribed by the Five Year Plan and further jeopardize the integrity of local roads and bridges, the superintendents warned.

Also alarming is the fact that 65% of revenues to the Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund (the primary mechanism for funding local road and bridge capital projects) goes to debt service, requiring State General Fund transfers of $700 million per year in order to keep the fund solvent.

The highway superintendents told the Assembly members that, "As public officials charged with insuring the maintenance of the local highway and bridge system and the safety of the traveling public, we stand ready as always to work with you and all our State elected representatives to meet this tremendous obligation to our mutual constituents. We ask that you consider our suggestions and adequately fund our local transportation system so that it can remain a secure and efficient asset that helps to bring people, businesses and jobs back to New York State."

Local Roads Matter! The highway groups hope that, partnering with the State and the public, New York can begin to rehabilitate and rebuild the local transportation system to where it once again can be a safe and efficient asset that helps to keep people, businesses and jobs in New York State.

A copy of the NYSCHSA and NYSAOTSOH joint testimony is available at www.countyhwys.org or www.nystownhwys.org.