$200 million in state funding is now available to local communities through the BRIDGE NY program to make their infrastructure more resilient to extreme weather events. A civil engineer himself, BRIDGE NY is one of several infrastructure programs Assemblyman Santabarbara has championed in the state budget. The additional funding will build upon a previous $500 million awarded to 146 local communities to harden infrastructure and mitigate the impacts of climate change. 

“During my time in the Legislature, I’ve been a tireless advocate for infrastructure funding,” Assemblyman Santabarbara said. “Although this year’s budget will be a challenging one, I’ll keep working for smart investments and innovation in our infrastructure that will not only save us money in the long run, but also create jobs and improve safety on our roads and bridges.”

In 2017 Assemblyman Santabarbara also authored the ‘New York State Emergency Infrastructure Act’ to assist municipalities in obtaining more immediate funding to address emergency infrastructure repairs that are deemed a threat to public health and safety (Chapter 57 of 2017). “As a civil engineer, I know how failing infrastructure can cause increasingly more damage over time, affect more people and cost everyone more,” Santabarbara added. “Now more than ever we need creative solutions like this that help us continue rebuilding New York's aging infrastructure. These are smart investments that are vital to economic development and will pay off as we continue working towards economic recovery.”