roads and bridges

A new report from a national transportation research nonprofit says half a million vehicles cross "poor/structurally deficient" bridges in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls region every day.

With the election year heating up, so is the debate in Erie County government about how to spend an unexpectedly large budget surplus.

The visual images on television were very clear: Republicans were vocal in their praise of President Trump's State of the Union message, while Democrats were not wearing out their hands with applause. However, there was one issue that seemed to cross the aisle: infrastructure.

There is a standard complaint among politicians, that Erie County government does not spend enough money maintaining and nurturing its infrastructure. That is especially true of the legislators who represent communities outside of Buffalo, where the county has roads, bridges and many other things. However, the new chair of the Legislature's Economic Development Committee is promising a proactive approach.

A group that includes representatives from the engineering, construction and highway industries has issued a new report on the nation's Interstate Highway System, calling it an aging and underfunded network of roads and bridges. The report from the Washington, D.C.-based transportation research group TRIP comes as the U.S. Interstate marks its 60th anniversary this week.