New York State DOT
Streetsblog Basics
State Budget Includes $625 Million Road Bailout for 2013
For years, Albany has raided the state's highway trust fund, using general tax revenue to patch holes. This year, the governor's budget, as filed in the Senate and Assembly, includes a mammoth $625 million road bailout, larger than the $519 million projected in the financial plan and higher than most trust fund bailouts in previous years.
February 11, 2013
State DOT’s Spending Blueprint Overlooks Walking and Biking
Advocates for safer streets are alarmed by a New York State DOT "blueprint" for capital investments that scarcely acknowledges walking or biking as modes of transportation.
December 6, 2012
Memo to Daily News: Local NYC Streets Could Also Use State DOT Attention
After two crashes in six years that caused 13 fatalities and an outcry from an indignant press corps suddenly obsessed with traffic safety, the New York State Department of Transportation has turned its attention to the Bronx River Parkway.
May 3, 2012
Denise Richardson on Highway Tolls, the TZB, and Why Projects Cost So Much
Earlier this week Streetsblog sat down with General Contractors Association Managing Director Denise Richardson for a wide-ranging discussion on the financial state of New York's transportation systems. In the first installment of the interview, we discussed the MTA's capital program, which is moving forward with important repair work but saddling transit riders with huge amounts of debt, and the inability of the federal government to pass a new transportation bill.
April 6, 2012
American Planning Association Chapter Demolishes Cuomo Tappan Zee Claims
The New York area's urban planning community issued a striking rebuke to the Cuomo administration over its plans for a new Tappan Zee Bridge last week. In a letter to the state Department of Transportation [PDF], the regional chapter of the American Planning Association, which represents 1,200 professional planners, challenged the Cuomo administration's claims about the project and urged the immediate restoration of transit infrastructure to plans for the bridge.
March 27, 2012
Cuomo Willing to Wait for Tappan Zee Loan, But Not for Tappan Zee Transit
Using a federal loan to finance $2 billion of the cost of the Tappan Zee Bridge could delay construction work significantly, warns trade journal Project Finance today. Trading time for a low interest rate might save money, but it puts the lie to the Cuomo administration's claim that adding transit would unacceptably slow the Tappan Zee project.
February 16, 2012
Tappan Zee Plans Flunk New York’s Smart Growth Test
The Cuomo administration's plan for an extra-wide, transit-free Tappan Zee Bridge is exactly the kind of project that New York state's smart growth law is supposed to prevent.
January 25, 2012
Cuomo Primed to Splurge on Jumbo-Sized Tappan Zee With Extra Lanes
The Cuomo administration's plan for the new Tappan Zee Bridge, described in yesterday's draft environmental impact statement, is more than a missed opportunity to provide New Yorkers with faster and greener commutes using transit. It also foreshadows a potential environmental disaster, as the state prepares to spend huge sums on a span that can funnel much more traffic than the current bridge.
January 25, 2012
Tappan Zee Draft EIS Underscores Cuomo Admin’s Disregard for Transit
The Cuomo administration's latest thinking on the new Tappan Zee Bridge, contained in the draft environmental impact statement it released yesterday, reinforces the state's commitment to building a sprawl-inducing, highway-only bridge. The document not only dismisses bus rapid transit, but also clears the way for an enormous expansion of automobile capacity and makes a mockery of New York's statewide smart growth law. We'll be breaking down the DEIS in a series of posts today.
January 25, 2012
Public-Private Partnerships Won’t Solve New York’s Transpo Funding Crisis
Governor Andrew Cuomo sent out an "editorial" this weekend putting infrastructure investment at the center of his job creation agenda. In a rough outline, the governor touted public-private partnerships (or PPPs, as they're known) as a key mechanism to pay for "the repair and development of highways, bridges and major construction projects."
December 5, 2011