Government & Politics

More State Funding Sought for Road Safety Improvements

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Assemblywoman MaryJane Shimsky and other lawmakers at last week's press conference.

December 11, 2024

By Rick Pezzullo—

State Assemblywoman MaryJane Shimsky (D/Greenburgh) was among a slew of elected officials and union leaders who called for increased funding in the 2025 state budget for needed road improvements.

The lawmakers are seeking an additional $800 million for transportation needs.

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“Roads and bridges are one of the basic functions of government,” Shimsky said at the Dec. 5 press conference in Montrose. ““For years now, the overall road and bridge conditions in New York State have been deteriorating – and in the Hudson Valley, our roads and bridges have been falling apart at a faster rate than those in the state as a whole. Yet funding for road and bridge repairs in our region has been dropping precipitously.”

Shimsky said New York State ranks #46 in road conditions in the United States.

“The state is paving less than half of what is needed to maintain roads. We need better roads,” Shimsky said. “We need to make sure that the roads get repaired. If we don’t fix our roads, our economy is going to suffer.”

The state Department of Transportation’s Region 8, which encompasses the Hudson Valley, includes 5,461 lane miles of roadway, the most in the state. According to DOT statistics, 60% of Region 8 roads and half of its bridges are in poor condition.

The number of repaved lane miles in Region 8 have dropped by almost half in two years, from 430 miles in 2022 to 245 miles in 2024.

“As reports show that Region 8 includes some of the poorest rated roads and bridges in the entirety of New York, we know that allocating funding and rallying support for projects in the region must be a top priority,” said Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

John T. Cooney, Jr., executive director of the Construction Industry Council of Westchester & Hudson Valley, Inc., stressed the request for $800 million was “not some contrived number.”

“There is absolute math behind what we’re asking for,” Cooney said. “The $800 million increase in the NYSDOT Core Program is necessary to fill the gap caused by unprecedented inflation of over 25% in construction costs since 2022.”

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