Press Releases: 10/03/08 Legislator Michele M. Iannello Announces District Office Open House 07/31/08 COUNTY LEGISLATOR IANNELLO ANNOUNCES FREE RABIES CLINIC SCHEDULED AT SPCA AUGUST 20 07/29/08 COUNTY LEGISLATOR IANNELLO ANNOUNCES THREE SUMMER ACTIVITY PUBLICATIONS AVAILABLE 07/25/08 LEGISLATOR IANNELLO APPLAUDS COUNTY'S GREEN COMPUTING INITIATIVE 05/20/08 LEGISLATOR IANNELLO PARTICIPATES IN ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM

Michele M. Iannello - District 10 OCTOBER 19, 2007 COUNTY LEGISLATURE OPPOSES STATE PLAN TO REVERT ROUTE 219 BRIDGE TO COUNTY The Erie County Legislature is unanimously opposing New York State's intention to abandon part of U.S. Route 219 and half of the bridge over Cattaraugus Creek to Erie County without compensating the county for repairs and maintenance, as well as transferring an access road on Grand Island. The Cattaraugus County Legislature took similar actions. The State Department of Transportation recently informed the county's Department of Public Works that the state was abandoning 2.57 miles of highway and a 652-foot bridge, as well as plans to transfer a small section of an access road on Grand Island. State law allows the DOT to shed duplicate routes, in this case the new Route 219 extension and the existing route, because it will place an undue maintenance burden on the state. "Erie County has more centerline miles of road, 1,177, to maintain than any other county in New York State," Erie County Legislator Michele M. Iannello (D-Kenmore, Grand Island) said. "With the average length of a bridge in Erie County of 83 feet, the size of the bridge that New York State is transferring ownership to the County dwarfs the current bridges by comparison. This raises public safety concerns for motorists and maintenance workers because neither county is equipped to maintain bridges this large. The state did not take the county's situation into account when it decided to transfer the access road in Grand Island, either." "Another alarming public safety concern is that the Route 219 bridge has a deck truss design similar to the bridge that recently collapsed unexpectedly in Minneapolis, which presents questions of long-term fiscal costs to Erie for bridge maintenance," Legislature Chair Lynn M. Marinelli (D-Buffalo, Tonawanda) said. "This is a totally unacceptable maintenance burden for Erie County. These actions are another version of unfunded State mandates which impedes continuing fiscal stability." The issue was discussed in the Legislature's Economic Development Committee, chaired by Timothy Kennedy (D-South Buffalo), with members Kathy Konst (D-Lancaster), Robert Reynolds (D-Hamburg) and John Mills (R-Orchard Park), all of whom co-sponsored the resolution, along with Chairwoman Marinelli. The Legislature asks Governor Eliot Spitzer, DOT Commissioner Astrid C. Glynne, the local delegation of the state Legislature and the Western New York Congressional delegation to "take whatever action is necessary to stop this abandonment." Back to District 10 Homepage