NO MORE POTHOLES: Advocates For Better Roads Call for Additional $1.12 Billion in NY State Budget

By Yehudit Garmaise

The bumps, cracks, and potholes on New York’s roads should be quickly repaired to provide smooth and safe driving, say advocates who are calling for the state legislature to add $1.12 billion to the budget Gov. Kathy Hochul will introduce in the coming weeks. 

The advocates, who are coming together from business, construction, and government organizations, call themselves: Rebuild NY, and they want the state to overhaul its thoroughfares damaged by years of everyday wear-and-tear, excessive loads, and salt.

The large sum, Rebuild NY wrote in a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul this week, is necessary to cover the dramatically rising costs of the necessary materials, such as steel, asphalt, and fuel.

"Without at least this level of funding added to NY’s Department of Transportation (DOT) core program this year, we will see significant reductions in the maintenance and reconstruction work done in every region in the state," the groups warned in a letter sent to Gov. Kathy Hochul this week. 

In November 2021, the US Congress passed a $1 trillion infrastructure bill that it used to shower states with cash to improve their roads, bridges, public transportation, communication networks, and water systems.

Of the federal government’s massive infrastructure bill, NY’s DOT received $32.8 billion:  $6.1 billion of which was designated just for repairs on highways and bridges.

Those significant funds, however, cannot cover the skyrocketing costs of construction and raw materials, according to stateofpolitics.com.

Fuel costs have increased by more than 250%, and the cost of steel has more than doubled. 

"An additional $1.128B [must] be added to the 2023-24 budget for state and local highway construction just to keep funding at the same level it was when the five-year program was initially adopted in 2022," Rebuild NY wrote in its letter to the governor.