Hearing Examines Funding of Transportation Projects

A panel of representatives from government agencies, the private sector, nonprofits and labor and trade organizations examined the use of public-private partnerships to fund New York State transportation projects during a hearing at on Tuesday.

State Sen. Charles Fuschillo, Jr., R-Merrick, chaired the transportation committee public hearing.

“Our state’s massive transportation infrastructure is in need of major repairs and improvements which cannot be financed through current funding sources alone," Fuschillo said. "Many other states and governments have turned to public-private partnerships to help maintain and improve their infrastructure. New York State needs to examine how to effectively utilize this tool to help repair and upgrade its infrastructure and create jobs for residents."

Discussion at the hearing focused on how the state can use public-private partnerships in order to expedite and better fund infrastructure projects and Fuschillo gathered input on the Innovative Infrastructure Development Act, legislation he sponsored that proposes using these public-private partnerships.

Under the act, the New York State Department of Transportation, New York State Bridge Authority, and New York State Thruway Authority would be given the flexibility to enter into partnership agreements to finance and execute transportation infrastructure projects.

Speakers at the hearing included Stanley Gee, the deputy Commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation, Marc Herbst, the executive director of the Long Island Contractors Association, Tom Osborne, managing director of United Bank of Switzerland, Roger Clayman, executive director of the Long Island Federation of Labor, William K. Duffy, Jr., president of IUOE Local 138, 138A, & 138B and others.

The group discussed how partnerships enable governments to partner with the private sector to finance the construction, maintenance, and operation of projects and how the private sector’s vested financial interest in completing projects on-time and under-budget means that private partnerships perform more efficiently than their counterparts and save money.

According to Fuschillo, 29 other states and Puerto Rico have enacted laws authorizing public-private partnerships for highway and bridge projects. He added that the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that 25,000 jobs are created for every $1 billion spent on transportation infrastructure projects and that "creating jobs is critical in a state where over 744,000 people are unemployed."

Nearly 6,200 of New York’s 17,400 state and local highway bridges
are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, according to
the state’s Department of Transportation.