Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) President Andrew S. Rein released this statement on behalf of the CBC:

"In a positive development, the Fiscal Year 2023 Executive Budget includes new and increased funding for State and local transportation infrastructure, including projects to improve the state of good repair of roads and bridges, redesign and restructure highways and bridges, and increase support for regional transportation authorities.  

While increased funding from the State and the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act can reduce the State’s backlog of road and bridge deferred maintenance and help complete major expansion and restructuring projects, it will not ensure the State is maximizing the value of its capital investments. That value is hampered by a transportation capital planning process that is opaque, insufficiently informed, and overly political. 

In December, we supported Governor Hochul’s approval of a bill to improve reporting on the State’s transportation capital infrastructure. Still, more improvements are needed, including those CBC previously recommended in our framework for comprehensive capital planning. Prioritizing spending among different transportation modes, infrastructure categories, or service types is difficult. To help, the State should improve its capital planning processes by broadly adopting benefit-cost analysis, better identifying needs and resources, planning for maintenance and improvements, and continuously assessing the progress of its work.  

Each passing year without a comprehensive, long-term capital planning process has a cost. That is especially true this year and in coming years when federal infrastructure aid will provide significant additional resources. Federal funds already make up one-sixth of total capital spending by the State, and the State should strategically identify, allocate, and spend the new federal funds along with the added State funds to maximize their benefits."