Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Transportation Committee Chair David Gantt announced that SFY 2012-2013 Budget legislation approved by the Assembly will allocate $4.5 billion to fund highway, road and bridge projects, and the maintenance, operation and repair of the state's transportation infrastructure.

"The transportation funding included in this budget will improve the conditions of the roads, bridges and mass transit systems that New Yorkers rely on every day. It also will have a noticeable impact on the creation of jobs in the transportation construction industry for several years," said Silver. "The state funding provided to several significant transportation programs plus the additional money provided for the MTA and DOT Capital Plans will allow many labor intensive infrastructure projects to move forward and help boost the state's local economies."

"I am pleased that in the process of making much needed multiple-year funding commitments to our transportation infrastructure, at a time when the state has limited resources because of a tough economy, we are also creating jobs," said Transportation Committee Chair David Gantt.

A key allocation included in the budget is $1.16 billion to the New York Works Initiative, a major job creation and retention plan that will accelerate the beginning of many transportation projects across the state.

The budget also provides $770 million in increased funding for the final three years of the MTA Capital Program and also authorizes an expansion of the MTA bond cap to allow significant MTA projects, such as Manhattan's Fulton Street Transit Center, Second Avenue Subway and East Side Access, to move forward.

Transportation programs that municipalities depend on to repair and maintain their highway and road infrastructure were funded as well, including Marchiselli Aid, $39.7 million and $363.1 million for the CHIPS program.

In addition, the budget also makes provision for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Legislature and the Executive on the out-year funding of the Department of Transportation's Capital Plan, providing $100 million in SFY 2013-14 and $100 million in SFY 2014-15 above the level proposed for those years in the SFY 2012-13 executive budget.