The announcement comes after Santabarbara led a tour of Church Street earlier this year with State and local officials including the NY State Department of Transportation. $900,000 will be dedicated to a Church Street Reconstruction Project and comes from Santabarbara’s office through a State and Municipal Facilities grant.

“When residents contacted my office about the poor road conditions on Church Street, I immediately got to work,” said Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, who is also the only civil engineer in the NY State Assembly. “My tour earlier this year was only the first step. Now with this funding the City of Amsterdam can build a safer, more reliable road that the families and residents on Church Street deserve.”

Santabarbara personally met with the NYS Department of Transportation and a number of state agencies about this issue earlier this year. In the meantime, Santabarbara had been advocating for the funding in the New York State Assembly during this year’s state budget process.

“As a civil engineer, aging infrastructure is always on my mind. We saw it with the sewer break on Forest Avenue and again on Pershing Road as well as the water main breaks both on the South Side and the Route 30 Bridge,” said Assemblyman Santabarbara. “This is a public safety concern and a quality of life issue for the families that live here and something that needs immediate attention,” Assemblyman Santabarbara said. “In addition, during my tour on Church Street I saw the high traffic volume first hand that included a consistent flow of large trucks,” Santabarbara said. “I spoke to residents that have been subject to constant noise and vibrations throughout the day and even at night. I cannot stand by while residents are forced to live under these conditions. It’s simply unacceptable.”

In addition to Church Street, nearly $700,000 of the funding will be allocated to citywide road repairs following this year’s harsh winter that took a toll on local roads. Of the infrastructure funding Santabarbara advocated for in this year’s state budget, the City of Amsterdam will also receive:

• $488,980 from the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Program;
• $111,705 from the PAVE-NY program; and
• $74,809 from the Extreme Winter Recovery program.

To ensure repairs are made quickly and efficiently across the City of Amsterdam, Santabarbara is encouraging residents to report potholes or dangerous road conditions on his Pothole Spotter website at http://nyassembly.gov/mem/Angelo-Santabarbara/story/63307.