Perhaps this year more than any other, it is imperative that we fund the maintenance and operation of New York’s roads and bridges.

As budget negotiations proceed, I have made it known to my colleagues in the Senate that I cannot support a budget that does not provide for our state’s roads and bridges, at least for two years.

Given the financial climate in New York, funding a two-year capital plan goes beyond the obvious safety concerns over the state of our transportation infrastructure—it’s also about jobs.

This year, funding and delivering on a two-year plan is pivotal for localities, where not only are repairs long overdue, but the work associated with the repairs is much needed.

On Oct. 7, 2009, the state Department of Transportation released the $25.8 billion five-year capital plan, which was simultaneously rejected by Gov. Paterson.

Although the price tag remains a burden too big for New York to bear at this time, the bleak portrayal the report made of the condition of New York’s roads and bridges is reality. As it stands, the state’s roads and bridges need at least $5 billion per year to bring them up to acceptable standards. However, the proposal as it stands in the current executive budget is to fund a two-year capital plan at
$6.9 billion—$1.5 billion per year short of the mark.

At a minimum, a two-year plan should be funded at $10 billion.

New York’s transportation infrastructure provides a unique opportunity to see a return on our investments. Not only is the strength of our infrastructure critical to New Yorkers’ safety, it is also a job-creating tool. It isn’t coincidence that transportation was made a cornerstone of President Obama’s recovery act spending.

Investment in and the maintenance of our transportation system puts people to work and helps to keep goods and people moving. We must end old practices of under-funding our capital plans. We now can see firsthand the effect pilfering of our dedicated transportation funds has had on our state. Take the Crown Point bridge, for instance.

Crown Point Bridge and the citizens that relied on it daily are not only the victims of careless money management, they are also victims of an antiquated policy when it comes to our roads and bridges: a policy of deferred maintenance and exorbitant replacement costs.

There is some good to come of this disastrous economy, however. It has opened our eyes to the fact that a better investment strategy is to “fix it first.”

The priority must be the maintenance of our existing roads and bridges to ensure they are safe for all New Yorkers. Preventative maintenance can extend the useful life of a bridge from 60 to 100 years. Likewise, for every dollar spent on preventative maintenance we save up to $10 in rehabilitation costs.

Preventative maintenance funding under the proposed five-year capital plan totals about $1.7 billion and will target the most highly traveled systems that are critical to commerce and economic development, with a special focus on the state’s bridges.

However, the gains to be made in terms of extending the life of these systems, as well as the workers it will employ to do so, are beyond measure.


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Martin Malavé Dilan, a Democrat representing parts of Brooklyn, is chair of the Senate Transportation Committee.