May 16, 2014
ALBANY, NY (Friday, May 16, 2014) Marking Transportation Week, Congressman Paul Tonko (NY-20), the Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA), Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan, and representatives from the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) held a press conference and rally at the CDTA Garage in Albany. Congressman Tonko and other community leaders called for major federal investment in our nation’s infrastructure in the form of a new, bold and long-term transportation bill.
“Our region, like most others, needs a reliable, multi-year federal funding program to drive our capital program,” said David M. Stackrow, CDTA Board Chairman. “Our job is to connect our communities and ensure people get to work every day, in fact, 70% of our trips take people to work.”
This summer, the Highway Trust Fund, which funds construction and repair projects across the country and in our area will run out of money, potentially slowing down progress on critical jobs or halting them altogether. The bankruptcy of the Highway Trust Fund could mean the delay of approximately 112,000 roadway projects and 5,600 transit projects in addition to costing the economy as many as 700,000 construction jobs in the next year.
Stackrow said, “We use federal funds to buy buses, to build park & rides lots, to install covered places for customers to wait for buses, to build and maintain facilities and to keep our infrastructure from aging.”
An aggressive reauthorization of a new transportation bill would create and protect jobs, make the Capital Region more attractive to business, and enhance travel safety. The Department of Transportation has projected that the Highway Trust Fund, which finances more than $50 billion a year in major highway, bridge and transit projects, is running out of money and will dip below the critical level of $4 billion as early as July.
