Highway Groups Seek to Alert Officials, Public About Local Road Funding

ALBANY, NY (10/19/2010)(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 have joined forces to call public attention to the difficulties faced by municipalities throughout the state in funding critical local road and bridge projects.

The campaign called, "Local Roads Matter," seeks to call attention to the fact that the state's local roads are critical to every facet of our lives. Safe and efficient roads and bridges are necessary for economic vitality, to revitalization, to schools, to trade, to healthcare, to business, in times of crisis, to families and to our overall quality of life.

"The state budget crisis is indeed alarming, and heightens the public uncertainty and confusion about whether we will be able to continue to undertake vital repair, maintenance and construction projects to keep our local transportation systems operating safely," said Terrence J. Rice, President of the New York County Highway Superintendents Association. "The underfunding of transportation at the federal, state and local levels makes it impossible to keep up with the needs of a declining local highway and bridge system that suffers from decades of financial neglect."

Local roads and bridges account for 86% of the roads, 51% of the bridges and 48% of the vehicle mileage logged in New York State and are a vital and indispensable part of our transportation infrastructure. Investing in local roads and bridges is crucial to New York's economic viability and yet, year after year, New York State fails to take decisive action to adequately invest in local transportation infrastructure. This has resulted in annual unfunded needs approaching $1.2 billion for localities outside New York City.

Rice and Roger Wolfe, President of the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways (NYSAOTSOH) are seeking funding levels for their members' community transportation systems that reflect the needs as outlined by the State Department of Transportation Five-Year Capital Plan. In particular, securing additional funding for the state Consolidated Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS)-the primary funding source for the majority of local transportation projects, continues to be the groups' priority.

In addition to a CHIPS level of $420 million per year, the State Plan calls for the establishment of a local bridge and culvert program totaling $150 million for five years and fund the first year at $30 million. While some increases to CHIPS appropriations in recent years have helped, the CHIPS level for this year of $363 million and the absence of a bridge program in the final state budget is inadequate to prevent more of the system from becoming deficient.

The New York State Comptroller's Audit, "Department of Transportation: Management and Oversight of Structural Defects on Highway Bridges," is a chilling description of transportation infrastructure in a dangerous state of disrepair.

The Comptroller confirmed that, in many cases, the infrastructure maintained by local governments is in dire need of repair and/or 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.

The highway groups are also calling for the reform of the Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund to insure that the bulk of dedicated transportation revenues are actually invested in capital projects. In another audit, this one entitled, "The Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund: Where Did the Money Go?" the Comptroller reveals that since 1991 just 34.9 percent of the money in the state's DHBTF went directly toward the repair and improvement of the State's deteriorating roads and bridges.

The Comptroller describes a transportation financing system in crisis and urges policy makers to rethink the way that State and local transportation is funded. He recommends that the DHBTF no longer be used to support operations of state government and non-capital purposes, a position strongly supported over the years by NYSCHSA and NYSAOTSOH.

"Local highway superintendents and public works officials are well aware of the condition of every mile of the transportation system under their jurisdiction," said Roger Wolfe, Town of Yates Highway Superintendent and President of NYSAOTSOH. "Anyone who is interested can contact the local town or county superintendent for information as to particular roads or bridges that are in poor condition as a result of a chronic lack of funding."

Local government leaders have joined in voicing their support for more state investment in local transportation infrastructure. "Having a modern system of roads and bridges in New York State must be a priority for elected state leaders," said Stephen Acquario, the New York State Association of Counties' Executive Director. "Increasing the investment into our infrastructure will ensure the continued safety of the motoring public and position New York to be a competitive state for economic development."

And Jeffrey Haber, Executive Director of the Association of Towns of the State of New York said, "New York State spends millions of dollar every year trying to attract business to our State. Well maintained local roads and bridges provide the infrastructure to get goods to market and people to work. Cash strapped town governments recognize the importance of a safe and reliable local transportation network and continue to spend their dwindling resources to ensure that commerce may continue within this state. To do this towns spend over a billion dollars annually to maintain town roads and bridges. Despite these efforts, the need is greater than our resources. The State and Federal Government must continue to partner with local government to fund improvements and maintenance of our vast local transportation network. We need the State to fully fund the CHIPS and Marchiselli transportation infrastructure programs and we need the Federal Government to enact a long term local highway funding program. You can't grow the economy on crumbling local roads and deteriorating bridges. Businesses need good local roads and safe bridges to compete in a global market place. Funding local roads is funding local economic development."

Local Roads Matter! When the public is aware of the condition of the state and local infrastructure, they have responded by supporting a statewide bond act and other funding mechanisms to address these needs. Working together we 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.