SYRACUSE — The New York Council of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) gives New York state grades of “D-” on its roads and “D+” on its bridges “because of their state of deterioration and lack of adequate funding to improve conditions.”
ASCE released its inaugural “Report Card for New York’s Infrastructure” on Sept. 29. The report gave the Empire State an overall grade of “C-” on the condition of its infrastructure, according to its news release issued that same day.
Assessing nine categories, the report found that the state’s roads and bridges are among the categories most in need of repair.
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Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner was among those scheduled to speak at the Syracuse Department of Water on Sept. 29 when ASCE unveiled its report.
Five days earlier, Miner called on the state of New York to boost funding for municipal-infrastructure projects to repair roads, water systems, and sewers.
“This is a significant issue for the city of Syracuse, and, again, one that highlights an aging infrastructure and one that demands more attention be paid by our state partners to invest in this infrastructure,” Miner said in her remarks at the Sept. 24 event.
Advocates from the Associated General Contractors of New York State, LLC and the Rebuild New York Now coalition joined Miner for her news conference in the 1000 block of Oak Street in Syracuse.
Those participating spoke across the street from a caved-in section of Oak Street.
In her remarks, Miner recalled a recent conversation she had with Mike Elmendorf, president and CEO of the Associated General Contractors of New York State.
Miner had mentioned that the city’s needs for road reconstruction had increased, she recalled telling Elmendorf.
“This year, we were finding that we’re having street cave-ins at a number that we had never had before. It was an unanticipated consequence of having water-main breaks and water-main leaks,” Miner told reporters assembled for the news conference.
City streets have more orange barrels, something Miner calls “an increasingly common problem in the city of Syracuse.”
The Syracuse Department of Public Works in 2014 repaired 158 cave-ins, according to a news release from Miner’s office on the topic.
“This year, 60 have been repaired, and 28 [repair] jobs are on the list to be completed,” Miner said.
Several factors cause street cave-ins, including sewer collapses and joint leaks; water-main leaks; and roadbeds, which have disintegrated due to their age.
Additional speakers
In his remarks, Elmendorf told Miner, “You’re not alone.”
New York’s infrastructure is in “rough shape” in communities all over New York, Elmendorf said.
“To be real simple about it … You can not, as a state, be open for business if your roads and bridges are closed,” he added.
He cited information from New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli indicating $175 billion in transportation-infrastructure needs and another $75 billion in environmental-infrastructure needs over the next 20 years.
“We are spending nowhere near the amount of money that we need to meet those needs,” said Elmendorf.
Another speaker contended taxpayers should be “outraged.”
“This is a disgrace. This is your constitutional right to have and maintain safe and efficient infrastructure,” Carley Hill, spokesperson for the Rebuild New York Now coalition, said in her remarks.
The organization seeks to “raise public awareness about the issues impacting New York state’s infrastructure,” according to its website.
The coalition “actively engages” federal and state elected officials to support public policies that “promote safe roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, water treatment and other vital infrastructure,” the website says.
Besides her role with Rebuild New York Now, Hill is also the manager and safety director for Union Concrete Construction Corp. in Buffalo.
“We’re ready, willing, and able to get out there and fix these roads and bridges,” said Hill. “It’s time for the federal government and the state government to get a little backbone and step up and take care of what it is we all deserve to be able to depend on everyday.”
Miner acknowledged that the group has gathered for similar calls in the past to talk about the “importance” of infrastructure in the Syracuse community.
“This is a time to remind people that it’s not just what we think is collapsing, but now we are entering into a new phase with our infrastructure of what we cannot anticipate collapsing,” Miner said.
