Parity for New York State transportation investments is a misnomer, according to a
The state's enacted fiscal 2017 budget included $27 billion for both the state's capital plan for transportation and transit, and a matching sum for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state-run agency that operates buses, subways and commuter rail in the New York City region.
Passage essentially reflected a political compromise between upstate and downstate interests.
"The reality is that such parity is not the current policy – and it should not be," wrote research associate Patrick Orecki.
Two factors, said Orecki, make parity a misnomer for a comparison between the plans, said Orecki. The plans cover different time periods – the MTA, calendar 2015 through 2019 and the state Department of Transportation, fiscal 2016 to fiscal 2020. In addition, he said, the DOT program includes large sums for projects in New York City as well as upstate road and bridge investments.
MTA projects primarily benefit 12 downstate counties while the DOT plan funds projects statewide with a significant portion of the funds allocated to projects in the MTA service area, including New York City. The MTA self-funds $3 billion of its capital program from bridge and tunnel revenue.
"Matching these sums is an arbitrary and misguided way to determine the size of the respective capital programs," wrote Orecki.
"Instead, the scale and content of each capital program should be rooted in an objective assessment of needs relating current asset conditions to a desired state of good repair and identifying priorities for system enhancements based on a comparison of projected performance indicators for prospective projects."
