The Mohawk Valley and many other upstate regions are no strangers to flooding, but a new investment announced by the state Wednesday may help.
“I’m extremely pleased to announced the award of more than $216 million in funding for Bridge NY,” state Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez said.
Bridge NY supports projects that reduce the risk of flooding and improve resiliency of structures, among other efforts.
The $216 million will go toward fixing or replacing 52 bridges and 57 culverts across the state. Bridge NY previously awarded nearly $500 million to local governments.
“What we’re really doing is focusing this level of investment on bridges specifically, and culverts, so that we can create that lasting infrastructure, making sure that it can withstand whatever extreme weather we get, and Lord knows that in Upstate New York, we get some extreme weather,” Dominguez said.
The president of the New York State County Highway Superintendents Association says the association had about 30 volunteers help review applications for the funding.
He says that local participation in the award process has helped the success of Bridge NY.
“The Bridge NY program enables counties to address critical infrastructure and the needs that likely would have been delayed otherwise. By attending to these needs now, the work will be less costly and provide significant savings for New York taxpayers,” New York State County Highway Superintendents Association President Joseph Wisinski said.
Dominguez believes more money will be coming in the future through the federal government’s infrastructure bill.
Officials say nearly $31 million of the latest funding will go to local governments in the Mohawk Valley for work on bridges and culverts.
A few bridges on the replacement list are Harvey Bridge in Ohio, Herkimer County, the County Road 59 bridge over Oaks Creek in Otsego County and the Maple Avenue bridge over Little Sandy Creek in Oswego County.
