OCTOBER 18, 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. 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 more has more centerline miles of road, 1,177, to maintain than any other county in New York State," Erie County Legislature Chair Lynn M. Marinelli (D-Buffalo, Tonawanda) said. "With the average length of a bridge in Erie County 83 feet, the size of the bridge 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."

"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," Chair Marinelli added. "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.

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."

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