Golden Wants To Add Billions To Sandy Related MTA Projects

State Senator Marty Golden wrote a letter to Joan McDonald, the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), throwing his support behind an amendment that would provide billions of dollars for Superstorm Sandy-related MTA projects.

Here are the details of the proposed amendment:

• Adds $5.674 billion to the 2010-2014 Capital Program for mitigation projects identified in response to Superstorm Sandy;
• Includes $1.6 billion in project-level adjustments in accordance with the full funding plan approved by the CPRB in March 2012, and
• Rebalances the budgets of various project classifications to reflect the current priorities and allow projects to proceed, including addressing so-called 10 percent issues.

Golden explained the importance in approving the amendment and provided more specifics on what the money would cover.

“This amendment includes $5.674 billion in transit and commuter railroad mitigation projects which will prevent or reduce water intrusion in stations, tunnels, and support facilities; fortify key infrastructure and right-of-way equipment; improve operational flexibility; and improve the overall resiliency of the MTA system and its ability to recover from major weather events and other disruptions,” Golden said in the letter to the NYSDOT.