This morning, Assemblywoman Mary Beth Walsh (R,C-Ballston) joined her colleagues, local elected officials, industry leaders and highway superintendents to advocate for increased state funding toward local roads, bridges and culverts. The ‘Local Roads are Essential’ advocacy campaign is sponsored by the New York State Association of County Highway Superintendents and the New York State Association of Town Superintendents of Highways, Inc.

“Each year we gather in Albany with our highway superintendents to point to the need for increased funding in the CHIPS program,” said Walsh. “In Gov. Hochul’s budget this year we see her five-year DOT Capital plan at $32.8 billion, supported by $13.5 billion in Federal funding, and baseline funding for CHIPS, EWR and PAVE-NY at current year levels. This is a promising start; however, we know that our roads and bridges are crumbling, and more funding is necessary in order to restore the infrastructure that New Yorkers depend on every day. We need predictable, yet flexible funding to allow our local highway departments to ensure our roads are the safest and most reliable they can possibly be.”

Walsh was joined by Town of Glenville Supervisor Chris Koetzle, who was there on behalf of New York State Association of Towns.

"As supervisor for the town of Glenville, I join many others in asking the state to fully fund programs that support local roads and bridges in the final state budget. A substantial portion of my town's budget is dedicated to maintaining and repairing the town's roads and bridges. State funding programs like CHIPS that provide annual, reliable funding not only keeps people safe, it helps the town avoid raising property taxes and allows us to do longer term capital planning, which saves our residents money," said Chris Koetzle, Town of Glenville Supervisor.