Bridge NY Funding Key for Repairs and Resiliency, Experts Say
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The funding recently directed to the Bridge NY program represents a positive step in helping repair the state’s aging system, according to infrastructure experts.
Administered by the New York State Department of Transportation, the Bridge NY program offers funding to assist local agencies as they rehabilitate and replace bridges and culverts. Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently announced the availability of $200 million in Bridge NY funding.
Michael Elmendorf, president of the Associated General Contractors of New York State, commended Cuomo for the announcement and said the investments are welcome news, but indicated more funding will be needed for infrastructure purposes.
Elmendorf
“At the end of the day, though, I think they begin to scratch the surface on what the needs are because the needs are greater than the resources available,” Elmendorf said. “It’s a start. There’s a lot more work to be done.”
One purpose of the funding is to assist communities in making their infrastructure more resilient to extreme weather events. The Bridge NY program is meant to contribute to the cause of New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which was passed in 2019 to help the state combat the effects of climate change.
Elmendorf said newer infrastructure fares better in extreme weather events, which New York has experienced with hurricanes and tropical storms.
BridgeNY Notice of Funding Availability by Transport Topics on Scribd
“We saw that in excruciating detail during Irene and Lee and Sandy,” Elmendorf told Transport Topics. “Older bridges and assets like that, in many cases, were wiped out or rendered unusable by those weather events.”
The recently announced funding builds on $500 million that has been awarded to 143 local government agencies since 2016, assisting with the rehabilitation and replacement of 298 bridges and culverts.
“Maintaining bridges and culverts across the state will generate good-paying jobs and keep millions of motorists safe,” said Joe Wisinski, president of the New York State County Highway Superintendents Association. “Investing in transportation infrastructure is essential to the safety of New Yorkers and the strength of our economy.”
All municipalities authorized to receive and administer state and federal transportation funding are allowed to apply for the Bridge NY program. The awards support all phases of project development, such as design, acquisition and construction.
New York officials will be accepting applications for culvert projects through May 19 and applications for bridge projects through June 9.
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Jose Holguin-Veras, director of the Center for Infrastructure, Transportation and the Environment at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, said enhancing infrastructure resiliency is crucial. Holguin-Veras noted trucks today are heavier than they were in the 1950s, which is when much of the nation’s older infrastructure was built.
He said trucking activity in New York is significant, identifying the Port of New York and New Jersey and the state’s agricultural economy as important generators of freight. According to the New York Farm Bureau, the state’s leading agricultural products include milk, hay, cattle, apples and cabbage. Holguin-Veras said Interstate 87, a north-south route linking New York City and Montreal, and I-90, which makes up the east-west leg of the New York State Thruway, are key commercial thoroughfares.
“Obviously, the port activity in the New York metro area is significant, but truck traffic across the state is significant,” Holguin-Veras said. “We tend to think about port traffic as the only traffic in New York, but that’s not necessarily the case. A tremendous amount of farmland depends on trucks.”
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