Hmmmmmm….. Ya Think? This is just one picture of the 290/190 over pass in Tonawanda NY…

New York bridges rank near the worst in the country

ALBANY — In the wake of Wednesday’s collapse of a Minneapolis bridge, state officials and transportation experts Thursday said more money should be dedicated to repairing New York’s bridges and roads, which are ranked among the worst in the country, to prevent such a tragedy here.

“Roads and bridges have been grossly under-funded in this state for decades,” Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, said. “Maybe this tragedy (in Minneapolis) is going to open the eyes of some of my colleagues reluctant to spend the money.”

Also Thursday, Gov. Eliot Spitzer directed several state agencies to undertake a “thorough examination” of the 49 bridges with similar designs to the Minnesota span that collapsed Wednesday.

Spitzer also called for a review of inspection and construction procedures, and said he will work with officials in Minnesota to learn from the incident. The agencies are to report back within 30 days.

“While we are confident that everything is being done to inspect, maintain and improve our bridges, the governor, in light of (Wednesday’s) tragedy, has chosen to take additional steps,” said Timothy Gilchrist, Spitzer’s deputy secretary for economic development and infrastructure.

In 1991, a fund was established to pay for bridge and highway improvements, with money coming from bonds sold by the state and the proceeds of several gasoline taxes, as well as other sources. But as the fund has grown larger, spending on capital projects has decreased, as much of the money was siphoned off to run state agencies such as the Department of Motor Vehicles.

A 2005 report by former comptroller Alan Hevesi found that while the fund ballooned from $1.3 billion in 1995 to $2.8 billion in 2005, annual spending on capital projects increased by just 7 percent — less than the rate of inflation — to $776 million. In that period, the portion of the fund used to pay off debts rose from $140 million to almost $1 billion.

But critics took greater issue with the amount used to pay for ongoing state expenses, like salaries, which grew from $450 million to more than $1 billion from ‘95 to ‘05.

Spitzer’s Budget Division disputed those figures, saying that 80 percent of the $2.5 billion spent from the trust fund was spent on construction and maintenance, or on debt service to pay for previous projects.

“We need to keep the fees and taxes that go into the fund dedicated to the purpose we created it for,” which is to repair highways and bridges, said AJ Castelbuono of Associated General Contractors of New York. “We have bridges that are old enough to collect Social Security, and you can’t expect a bridge built to last for 40 years to last for 70 years.”

Libous said his efforts over the last several years to change the way the money is spent have been blocked by the Democratic-led Assembly, Gov. Eliot Spitzer and former Gov. George E. Pataki.

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