After rejecting congestion pricing, the New York State Legislature passed its budget yesterday. Details are still sketchy, but you can get some information on the Budget website. There's also some in the newspapers; for example, the Post reports that the state's contribution to the MTA was cut by $53 million.
Coincidentally, that $53 million is very close to the $50 million increase in the funding for the state's CHIPS program. What's CHIPS - not that '70s cop show? Nope, the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program uses State money to pay for local highway capital improvement. Eligible programs are highway resurfacing, highway reconstruction, traffic control devices, bridge/culvert rehabilitation, bridge/culvert replacement, and other.
New York City's share of the CHIPS program was increased by $7.1 million. The news reports don't say what the total amount will be, but I'm guessing that a fair amount of it will go to the Shore Parkway boondoggle.
The Assembly members who claimed to really really want to do something to fund transit? Oh well.
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