Transportation, Department of

Agency Web Site: https://www.dot.ny.gov/index

Mission

It is the mission of the New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) to ensure its customers – those who live, work and travel in New York State – have a safe, efficient, balanced, and environmentally sound transportation system.

The DOT directly maintains and improves the State’s approximately 43,700 State highway lane miles and nearly 7,700 State highway bridges. In addition, the Department partially funds locally operated transit systems, local government highway and bridge construction, and rail, airport, and canal programs.

Organization and Staffing

The Department is headed by a Commissioner appointed by the Governor, subject to Senate confirmation. The Department’s main office is in Albany, with 11 regional offices in Schenectady, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Hornell, Watertown, Poughkeepsie, Binghamton, Hauppauge, and New York City. The Department also maintains highway maintenance and equipment repair facilities across the State.

Employees of the Department perform such activities as highway maintenance, snow and ice removal, highway and bridge design, and construction inspection. In addition, the Department’s staff inspects school and charter buses, regulates commercial transportation, oversees public transportation systems and State-owned airports, and provides administrative support for the Department.

Budget Highlights

The FY 2023 Executive Budget recommends $13.7 billion in appropriations for the Department, an increase of $2.5 billion from the FY 2022 budget. This year-to-year change primarily reflects anticipated increases in revenues that support statewide transit systems, adjustments to reflect the composition of the five-year DOT Capital Plan, and increased Federal appropriations to account for enhanced funding.

The FY 2023 Executive Budget includes a workforce of 8,485 FTEs for the Department.

Major budget actions include:

• DOT Capital Plan: The Executive Budget provides for the first year of a record five-year, $32.8 billion DOT Capital Plan that ensures stronger State and local roads and bridges for years to come. This record level of investment provides DOT with resources necessary to renew, modernize and continue to drive economic development in local communities. The new, five-year Capital Plan will be aligned with Federal funding commitments recently made in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

• Transit Operating Support: The Executive Budget contains appropriations sufficient to provide operating support totaling over $7.3 billion to statewide transit systems. The MTA will receive $6.6 billion (through a combination of appropriated and non-appropriated resources), and other transit systems both Upstate and Downstate will receive $732 million of annual operating assistance. Non-MTA transit capital assistance appropriations will increase by $35 million, to $160 million, as part of a five-year, $175 million additional investment in transit that begins in FY 2023. This total includes the third $20 million installment of a five-year, $100 million program to aid local transit agencies with the transition to electric buses.

• Highway and Bridges: Capital Aid to Local Governments for highway and bridge projects is preserved at FY 2022 levels, with $538.1 million provided for the Consolidated Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) and $39.7 million for the Marchiselli program. The Executive Budget also provides $200 million for local bridge projects through the BRIDGE NY program, and the first $200 million of the new 5-year, $1 billion Operation Pave Our Potholes program. The Executive Budget will also continue funding for the PAVE NY, State Touring Routes, and Extreme Winter Recovery programs at FY 2022 levels.

For more information on this agency's budget recommendations located in the Executive Budget Briefing Book, click on the following link:

Briefing Book – Transportation (PDF)

Program Highlights

Highway Construction and Maintenance: Improving the State’s vital transportation infrastructure remains the agency’s highest priority. During FY 2021, DOT replaced or rehabilitated more than 100 State bridges and completed over 4,600 corrective and preventive bridge treatments to slow deterioration. In addition, approximately 2,600 lane miles of State highway were resurfaced or reconstructed.

Engineering: State staff and private-sector consultants perform the planning, property acquisition, design engineering, environmental reviews, surveying, materials and soils testing, and construction inspection necessary to deliver the Department’s capital program.

Local Highway Aid: The State makes a significant investment in helping localities maintain safe roads and bridges through the CHIPS, Marchiselli, BRIDGE NY and PAVE NY programs. The CHIPS program provides aid to cities, counties, towns, and villages on a formula basis, while the Marchiselli program helps local governments meet required matching requirements on Federally funded projects. The Operation Pave Our Potholes, BRIDGE NY and PAVE NY programs provide additional State aid for local bridge and highway projects.

Transportation Safety and Environmental Compliance: Department staff perform safety inspections of school buses throughout New York State. In addition, the Department administers safety and emissions inspections of commercial trucking on State highways, as well as a comprehensive program to ensure public safety along the State’s commercial rail corridors.

Note: Most recent estimates as of 05/11/2020