With the warm weather here, local highway crews are out working on road repairs and construction projects. There are approximately 114,000 centerline miles of highway in the state and local governments are responsible for the maintenance of nearly 85% of them. Accordingly, they need assistance meeting the repair demands, especially considering the snowfalls in our area.

Last year, the Legislature and the Governor agreed to fund the creation of a five-year capital improvement program for the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT). The 2017-18 budget thankfully continued to fund this plan that committed a total of $25.1 billion over a multi-year period. As part of the capital plan, $438.1 million was set aside for the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) and $100 million was allocated for PAVE-NY in this year’s budget. $65 million was also set aside for Extreme Winter Recovery. Last year, this program was not funded but this year Upstate lawmakers fought for its inclusion.

CHIPS is a successful program that has been around for almost 40 years. It was created in 1981 as a way to ease the cost of resurfacing or road construction for localities. Each year, localities receive notice of fund apportionments based on formulas established by the State Highway law. These apportionments are largely based on miles of roads within a locality and the number of registered drivers. Localities must first complete the work and then apply to be reimbursed by the state for eligible projects.

PAVE NY was created in last year’s budget. Similar to CHIPS, PAVE-NY reimburses localities for resurfacing and apportionments are based on the percentage of CHIPS funding received. The main difference between the two programs is under CHIPS, localities are allowed to make repairs and undertake new road construction but with PAVE-NY eligible projects are limited to highway resurfacing and reconstruction. This is the second year out of a scheduled four years that PAVE-NY was funded. Extreme Winter Recovery funds are also disbursed using the same CHIPS formula and these funds may be used for resurfacing or new construction. The budget also set aside $100 million for BRIDGE-NY which is awarded through a competitive grant application. This funding can be used to build or reconstruct bridges and culverts.

Here is a local breakdown of the combined funding apportionments for CHIPS, Extreme Winter Recovery and PAVE-NY for counties in the 120th Assembly district:

• Total funding for Oswego County and all of its municipalities is $9,281,930.

• Total funding for Onondaga County and all of its municipalities is $16,038,634.

• Total funding for Jefferson County and all of its municipalities is $9,742,147.

Funding for our roads, highways and bridges is critical to our economy. Every year Upstate lawmakers make a push for it to be included in the enacted budget. If you have any questions or comments regarding this or any other state issue, please contact me. My office can be reached by mail at 200 North Second Street, Fulton, New York 13069, by e-mail at barclaw@nyassembly.gov, or by calling (315) 598-5185. You also can find me, Assemblyman Barclay, on Facebook.