Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Seth Solomonow/Scott Gastel (212) 839-4850

NYC DOT Releases Bridge Condition Report, Marks More Than $4 Billion of Investment in City’s State of Good Repair in Four Years

Unprecedented investment in long-term condition of streets, highways and bridges citywide

New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today released the agency’s Annual Bridges and Tunnels Condition Report and announced that with the recent award of $70 million in citywide streetlight maintenance contracts, DOT has surpassed $4.3 billion in capital investments on more than 775 projects in just the last four years, an unprecedented surge in the Administration’s commitment to bring the city’s roads, bridges and sidewalks into a state of good repair. The investments affect virtually every New Yorker and reach neighborhoods across the entire city, including $633 million to resurface 3,600 lane miles of streets over the last four years; $508 million to rehabilitate the landmark Brooklyn Bridge’s aging approach ramps and paint the entire span; $30 million to acquire and update the city’s new asphalt plant in Queens; and traffic investments to repair sidewalks, build highway retaining walls, install energy efficient lighting and state-of-the-art traffic signal controllers and other traffic management infrastructure citywide. The Commissioner also released the annual bridge condition report, which found that all of the City’s 787 bridges are in a state of good repair or have rehabilitation projects underway or planned.

“Investment in our city’s state of good repair is an investment in New York’s long-term safety, quality of life and its very economic competitiveness,” said Commissioner Sadik-Khan. “Infrastructure usually gets attention only when something goes wrong, but our budget strategies must take this investment approach or no amount of costlier repairs will be able to catch up.”

“The future of our city and our region has always been dependent on our infrastructure and always will be,” said Denise Richardson, Managing Director of the General Contractors Association of New York. “The steady improvement in the condition of New York City’s bridges over the past several decades, as highlighted in the New York City Bridge Annual Report, points to the benefits of a long term investment plan for our infrastructure. These investments were made possible by a funding commitment from the City and a partnership with the federal government.  Current congressional plans to reduce transportation infrastructure investments by 30% will impact the City’s ability to continue to make these strategic investments. At a time when we need to invest in the future of our cities and in our transportation infrastructure, Washington needs to understand the necessity and importance of funding these projects. Anything less is unwise, irresponsible and unacceptable.” 

“It brings me great pleasure to read NYC DOT’s latest bridge conditions report. We’ve come a long way in 25 years when 74 of the city’s bridges were rated poor. Now just 4 are in poor condition with plans to bring that number down to zero over the next few years,” said Sam (Gridlock Sam) Schwartz. “I applaud Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Sadik-Khan for a job well done.”

With more than 6,000 miles of streets, 300,000 streetlights and 12,000 intersections with traffic signals, New York City’s infrastructure is a core priority for the City and reaching a state of good repair is a goal of PlaNYC, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s long-term sustainability blueprint. In the last four years, the City invested $2.6 billion in total bridge investments, $557 million in street reconstruction funds and $225 million in other traffic investments. The investments also include strategic, new technologies to make our infrastructure more efficient, including producing asphalt with more recycled content and reducing dependence on private vendors, all while reducing the impact on the environment and improving safety. The City took six years to reach the previous $4 billion in state of good repair investment. The upcoming 10-year capital plan includes nearly $7 billion in investments. These capital investments are in addition to projects funded through the expense budget, which saw a $1.3 billion in investment over four years for maintenance and repair of streets and bridges. These expense budget investments include another $278 million for bridge maintenance, engineering and inspection, $203 million for street resurfacing and pothole repair, and $801 million for signals, streetlights, signs, and markings repair and replacement.

Other highlights from DOT’s four-year, $4.3 billion in capital investments

  • $669 million to replace the Willis Avenue Bridge, which was dramatically floated upriver to its last summer
  • $386 million to rebuild three Belt Parkway bridges in Brooklyn
  • $175 million contract to rehabilitate the access ramps at St. George Staten Island Ferry Terminal, the state’s largest Stimulus project
  • $94 million in projects to rebuild streets in Lower Manhattan, including Chambers Streets, Liberty Street, and Fulton Street
  • $43 million to reconstruct the Borden Avenue Bridge in Queens
  • $15 million street reconstruction contract on East Fordham Road in the Bronx
  • $14 million to complete the installation of new, energy-efficient streetlights citywide
  • $30 million to acquire a new asphalt plant in Queens

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