The new state budget puts a lot more money into repairing New York’s tattered roads and bridges and creates a new program to repair city streets and fill potholes.
For politicians, highway money is a big deal because that’s how most people get around, driving their motor vehicles on roads. The new budget adds $350 million to what was spent last year and much of it can be spent immediately.
State Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Tim Kennedy said a new program is the $100 million bridge and highway program for localities called City Touring Roads. City Touring Roads is going to allow for funding specifically designed to help with our aging infrastructure in our cities, like Buffalo and other Upstate cities, that really get hit hard with that inclement weather, year in and year out, Kennedy said. This is a new program. It’s never been done before. It’s just the beginning of millions and millions of dollars flowing to our community.
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Albany, NY) Today, the Senate Majority will pass its one-house budget resolution that delivers emergency aid to help New York recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and invests in a brighter, more equitable future by fully funding essential services and putting more money in the pockets of working and middle-class families. The Senate resolution increases total school aid by $5.7 billion, provides billions in residential and commercial rental and foreclosure assistance, restores critical funding to our health care system, and jumpstarts our economy with investments in transportation and small businesses. The Senate Majority’s proposal asks the wealthiest New Yorkers to pay their fair share rather than balancing the budget on the backs of working families.
By Susan Arbetter New York State PUBLISHED 5:42 PM ET Mar. 03, 2021 PUBLISHED 5:42 PM EST Mar. 03, 2021
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The state’s funding for the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Program, better known around the state capitol as CHiPs, hasn’t increased in 9 years. Joe Wisinski, president of the NYS County Highway Superintendents Association, told
Capital Tonight that this year that funding must increase. CHiPs is the lifeblood of local infrastructure, he said. It’s been stagnant for 9 years, yet all the paving material that we use costs more now.
Cuomo’s executive budget keeps CHiPS funding flat at $438 million.
NYSCHSA and other transportation groups are hoping to see lawmakers hike that by $150 million.
State lawmakers continue call for increased support for local infrastructure weny.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from weny.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Observer-Dispatch
More than four years after a voter referendum required the city to spend $5 million annually on street repairs, the Utica Common Council is weighing a second consecutive year of reduced spending.
During its Jan. 20 meeting, the council discussed legislation to cut street repair spending to $3 million. Last year, the city budget approved $3 million on street repairs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic remains a concern, as the city administration warned the council of possible shortages in materials to complete $5 million worth of work, including mill and pave, street reconstruction and repair.
There also are concerns about staffing to complete work, after work to replace all of the city’s streetlights with LEDs was put on hold for two weeks due to a coronavirus exposure, said Heather Mowat, the city’s budget director, at the Jan. 20 meeting.