NYSDOT Proposes New Five-Year Capital Plan

NYSDOT Proposes New Five-Year Capital Plan

Two weeks before the State Budget's April 1st deadline the DOT submitted their new five year plan to the state legislature. In the fall of 2007, the DOT released a 20 year plan which recognized the needs of our local highway system, but recommended no increase in state funding for local roads. To right this wrong, the Board released a 20 year local road study highlighting a $45 billion need in future funds for local roads, and then began educating key state decision makers on our local system's out year needs. They also noted that, while the drivers on our system are paying half the state's gas tax, we are only getting a fraction of these revenues back. The DOT's new proposed five year capital plan calls for a $263 million increase in CHIPS and Marchiselli funding , a 14 percent increase in the state's aid to local roads. This is a good first step, but we will work to convince the legislature that our needs deserve a higher level of funding. Increasing our funding will once again be a major challenge considering the DOT's proposed plan has an $8 billion funding gap. When the DOT proposed the current five year plan in 2005, they proposed no increase in local funding – so we are moving in the right direction. The plan could be passed this legislative session, but will most likely be dealt with in the state's next fiscal year.