New York state needs to avoid the temptation to cut back on its own infrastructure spending while using money from the $1.2 trillion federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as a substitute, according to John Cooney, Jr., executive director of the Construction Industry Council of Westchester and Hudson Valley Inc.
“We as an industry, me as an industry executive, need to be fighting for the state of New York to maintain their level of obligation and effort,” Cooney told the Business Journal. “I do believe that Gov. Hochul and our Senate and Assembly delegations in Westchester will rally to that and say ”˜this is an opportunity to truly improve water, sewer, bridge, road, mass transit and in order to be able to do that we need to maintain the state”™s level of effort.”™”
The state”™s Fiscal Year 2022 Executive Budget issued by former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo included $190 billion for transportation, including mass transit, railroads, airports, highways, bridges and tunnels.
It appears that the federal action on infrastructure will result in New York receiving an additional $11.6 billion for highways, $1.9 billion for bridges, $9.8 billion for transit, $2.6 billion for water infrastructure, $685 million for airports and more than $100 million for broadband. That”™s significantly more than the amounts designated for neighboring Connecticut, which is due to receive $3.5 billion for highways, $561 million for bridges, $1.3 billion for transit, $445 million for water infrastructure and $62 million for airports.
“The construction industry is extremely pleased with the passage of this bill,” Cooney said. “There definitely is a gestation period before you”™re going to see the full impact of this. Late in 2022 and definitely into 2023 you”™ll start to see and feel the increased construction activity driven by this bill. There could be some earlier noted increase but most certainly by that time period you”™ll see and feel it.”
Cooney said that as repair and maintenance projects get moving people will see more bridges being worked on than they would have in the past and more roadways will receive life-cycle upgrades designed to extend their life rather than just repaving.
Cooney said that in addition to highways and bridges, water infrastructure would benefit through improvements to dams and upgrading of water lines, especially where lead contamination is a factor. Funds also would be available for installation of electric vehicle charging stations. He said that funding for long-awaited improvements to Interstate 684 in Westchester and New York State Route 17 in Orange County likely would result from the infrastructure package.
A June 2021 report by TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit, found that 6% of the pavement on interstates in New York state is in poor condition and 6% of the interstate highway bridges in New York are in poor condition or structurally deficient. Both figures are twice the U.S average.
”Our members work across many sectors of the infrastructure scale. We have members that work in utilities, members that work in mass transit, highways, bridges,” Cooney said. “The CIC helps members engage with the authorities and counties and localities. We work to engage with the leaders to work on specifications and then prepare our members for the work that is going to be needed. Many of our members are ready to go to work today and we may have some new members that we will help get to work on this expanded program.”
Cooney said that the $13.5 billion just in federal highway funding over the next five years is a 41.7% increase over the last five years.
“These are dollars that will flow to the state of New York to help fund needed infrastructure repair and expansion,” Cooney said. “Our contractor members can see the forest for the trees and understand when you see this type of formula funding increase that it is really pointed and will be spent on infrastructure. That”™s where it goes. It”™s dedicated.”
