By Hank Russell
The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC) has announced that the organization has received almost $10 billion in discretionary funding stemming from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) since 2022. Some of the funding went to four Long Island-based transportation improvement projects totaling $71.39 million.
The Town of Riverhead received $24.12 million for the reclamation of the downtown riverfront through intermodal transportation and Suffolk County got $20 million to replace the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) bridge on Veterans Memorial Highway (Route 454). Both projects were funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) Program and sponsored by Suffolk County.
The FHWA Commuter Authority Rail Safety Improvement (CARSI) Program gave Long Island $14.9 million to fix its rail crossings. This project was sponsored by the LIRR, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the New York State Department of Transportation.
Lastly, Suffolk received $12.37 million to reconstruct the taxiway lighting at Republic Airport in Farmingdale. The project — which was sponsored by the county and the hamlet of Farmingdale — was funded by the Environmental Protection Agency Clean Heavy-Duty Vehicles (CHDV) Grant Program.
The IIJA, signed into law in November 2021, authorizes over $550 billion in transportation funding between federal fiscal years 2022 and 2026 and just over $100 billion of this budget in the form of nationally competitive discretionary funding.
“NYMTC and its members have been and continue to aggressively pursue these once-in-a-lifetime grants that will enable vital, significant projects and planning activities in our area, “said NYTMC Executive Director Adam S. Levine. “We’ve worked cohesively and diligently through the regional planning process and our hard work has paid off.”