Joseph Spector of Gannett News writes:

“A commission is recommending the merger of the state Department of Transportation and the state Thruway and Bridge authorities as a way to save $50 million to $82 million a year.

The Spending and Government Efficiency Commission (SAGE) recommended in a report Thursday the combination of the Albany-based Thruway Authority and the Bridge Authority, based in Highland, Ulster County.

The Bridge Authority owns and manages five bridges in the Hudson Valley, while the Thruway Authority oversees the 641-mile long superhighway and the state’s 524-mile canal system.

The report recommends that the authorities’ functions be combined “where feasible” with the DOT.”

To read more click here.

Cara Matthews reports on pressconnects.com - “Fill up the gas tank, register your car or rent a vehicle in New York, and a portion of the taxes you pay are supposed to fund repairs of the state’s roads and bridges.

There’s one major problem: Most of the time, it doesn’t.

Since it was established in 1991, the state’s Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund has been anything but dedicated.

Of the $3.5 billion spent annually from the fund, more than a third of it goes to fund salaries and operations at the state Department of Motor Vehicles, as well as snow and ice removal for the Department of Transportation.”

To read more click here.

Rick Karlin reports in today’s Times Union - “While state employees worry about potential layoffs due to consolidations and the possible rejection of a labor deal, companies that provide outside contractors to New York’s agencies are already following state orders to cut jobs.

Twenty-seven contractors who work for the state Department of Transportation are being let go this week, agency spokesman Bill Reynolds confirmed Tuesday.”

To read more click here.

This bill would provide state agencies and authorities with increased flexibility in the contracting and financing of transportation infrastructure projects. It would allow a wider variety of arrangements with the private sector than available under current law. The Business Council supports enactment of this legislation.

Public-Private Partnerships continue to garner more national attention as a means of financing and addressing the state’s growing infrastructure deficit. Their growing use for transportation and other projects in the United States and across the globe demonstrates a sensible alternative to traditional funding and procurement. Carefully crafted agreements would help to avoid additional taxes, reduce the State’s reliance on borrowing, green the environment, adapt to a changing global economy and create jobs.

Private sector companies are waiting to invest in transportation infrastructure projects. A recent report in the Wall Street Journal noted that as much as $400 billion is available world-wide from investor groups for PPP transportation projects.

To read more of the bill memo click here.

Testimony to the Senate Standing Committee on Transportation

Utilizing Public-Private Partnerships to fund Transportation infrastructure projects in New York State
Presented by
Heather Briccetti
Acting President & CEO
The Business Council of New York State, Inc.
Date: May 16, 2011

Senator Fuschillo and members of the Senate Transportation Committee, thank you for holding this hearing on such an important economic development subject. I am Heather Briccetti, acting president & CEO, of The Business Council of New York State. The Council represents more than 2,500 employers in New York State of all sizes. Our members employ more than one million New Yorkers. Our members are very interested in the opportunities presented by public-private partnerships or P3’s.

The nation and New York state face daunting infrastructure needs: from education facilities, to water and wastewater facilities; to public safety centers; to information technology infrastructure; to IT services and transportation needs.

P3’s offer a means for New York State to address these needs in a way that helps further community economic objectives; “infrastructure” means much more than roads and bridges and P3s should be thought of in the broadest sense of ‘infrastructure’.

To read the rest of the testimony click here.

“Train trips in the Washington-New York-Boston corridor would speed up with $795 million the U.S. government awarded for rail projects — the largest share of $2 billion across the country, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced today.” writes Ken Valenti on LoHud.com.

“These projects will put thousands of Americans to work, save hundreds of thousands of hours for American travelers every year, and boost U.S. manufacturing by investing hundreds of millions of dollars in next-generation, American-made locomotives and railcars,” Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement.”

To read more click here.

In a letter to Republican House leaders, business leaders from across the country express their concern with proposed changes to the House rules by the GOP which would make it easier for Congress to delay spending money from the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). The HTF is funded solely by gasoline taxes and is supposed to pay out as the money comes in. Postponing projects gives the appearance of reducing the deficit but may merely creates a shell game and underscores in the public’s mind how the “promises” of the locked box are in fact ….not kept. The text of the letter is below.

“December 28, 2010

To Members of the House Leadership:

We are writing on behalf of multiple transportation organizations to raise our strong objection to one of the provisions in the draft of the House rules package for the 112^th Congress that was released by House Republicans last week. The provision, which is on pages 10 and 11 of the draft, would hurt investment in transportation infrastructure, reduce jobs, and break faith with the American taxpayer.

The current House rule (Rule XXI, clause 3) ensures that all of the revenues that taxpayers pay into the Highway Trust Fund are used for highway and transit improvements on an annual basis. Prior to the adoption of this rule in 1998, it was common for Congress to engage in a shell game by reducing Highway Trust Fund spending so that spending elsewhere could be increased. As a result of these abuses, the balances in the trust fund soared, while much-needed infrastructure investment was deferred.

Transportation projects are frequently multi-year endeavors and are the product of a transportation planning process that must look years into the future. As such, federal highway and transit investments must be stable and predictable to allow states to maximize efficiency and public benefit in delivering transportation improvements. The

House Republican-proposed rules package for the 112th Congress, unfortunately, would sever the user-financed basis of the Highway Trust Fund, and make annual federal highway and transit investments subject to the whims of the appropriations process. In so doing, this proposal would inject further uncertainty into an already destabilized U.S. transportation construction marketplace.

The combination of not having a multi-year reauthorization of the federal highway and public transportation programs – 15 months after the expiration of SAFETEA-LU – and recession-driven state budget challenges has led many states to begin scaling back their transportation programs. The U.S. construction industry is suffering unemployment levels in excess of 18 percent – more than twice the national average. Given these realities, the focus of the 112^th Congress should be on enactment of a robust, multi-year reauthorization of the federal surface transportation program that creates jobs and boosts the economy, not on procedural maneuvers that will make it easier to cut highway investment. We urge that this change to the House Rules be reconsidered.

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials

American Concrete Pavement Association

American Council of Engineering Companies

American Highway Users Alliance

American Moving and Storage Association

American Public Transportation Association

American Road and Transportation Builders Association

American Society of Civil Engineers

American Traffic Safety Services Association

American Trucking Associations

Associated Equipment Distributors

Associated General Contractors of America

Association of Equipment Manufacturers

Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute

International Union of Operating Engineers

Laborer-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust

Laborers International Union of North America

National Asphalt Pavement Association

National Ready Mix Concrete Association

National Stone, Sand and Gravel Association

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Text of the House Rules Package:

http://rules-republicans.house.gov/Media/PDF/112-Hres5-CP_xml.pdf

Section by Section Analysis: http://rulesrepublicans.house.gov/Media/PDF/HRes%205%20Sec-by-Sec.pdf

Joseph Spector writes in the Ithaca Journal - “The decision by Wisconsin and Ohio to forgo federal high-speed rail money will mean a boost for New York, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Thursday.

The $1.195 billion in high-speed rail funds originally designated for Wisconsin and Ohio, who under new Republican governors balked at the aid as a waste of money, will be redirected to other states that are “eager to develop high-speed rail corridors across the United States,” LaHood announced.

New York’s piece will be up to $7.3 million, the fifth most of the 13 states receiving the aid. Still, it’s much less than the $624 million for California and the $342 million for Florida.

In January, New York received $151 million for high-speed rail initiatives, part of $8 billion that was designated nationally. The state’s goal is to ultimately build high-speed rail from Buffalo to New York City.”

To read more click here.

Businesses still upset over new charges

Judy Rife writes in the Times Herald-Record - “After a bumpy first year, the new payroll tax that the state levied to support the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is living up to expectations and becoming an integral part of the agency’s balance sheet.

“The payroll tax has proven to be crucially important to the MTA,” said Aaron Donovan, a spokesman for the agency. “Its existence prevented service cuts and fare (and toll) increases from being even worse, and it is reducing the funding gap in our five-year capital plan.”

On this first anniversary of sending in their first checks, however, Hudson Valley business leaders aren’t any happier than they were on Nov. 1, 2009, about paying 34 cents on every $100 of payroll to the MTA — not when the region already pays more in special taxes and fees to the agency than it receives in transit services.

“We are not reconciled at all,” said Charles North, president of the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce. “We’re still furious, still on a quest to stop this unreasonable mandate. It’s a travesty.”

Al Samuels, president of the Rockland Business Association, said he had just signed a stack of checks and paused in silent resentment at the quarterly one for the payroll tax.

“Are businesses any happier a year later?” said a laughing Samuels. “Oh, God, I love that! No, we’re not any happier!”

The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), in partnership with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), will hold six public meetings across the state beginning Oct. 19th in Buffalo to discuss plans to improve passenger rail service.

The meetings are the initial scoping events called for as part of a detailed environmental review being conducted for the High Speed Rail Empire Corridor Project (HSR Project). These meetings are a way for the public and other project stakeholders to provide input to the project team. This input will help create the type of high speed passenger rail service that is right for residents, businesses and travelers in New York State.

“Expanding high speed intercity passenger rail service will give New Yorkers and others who visit our great State additional travel options, increase mobility, create jobs along the corridor, enhance tourism and spur economic growth,” NYSDOT Acting Commissioner Stanley Gee said. “We encourage the public to attend this initial round of public meetings because active community involvement is essential to developing passenger rail improvements that will serve us effectively now and for decades to come.”

To learn more about the project, or to provide the project team with written comments, please visit the project website at www.nysdot.gov/empire-corridor