The network of highways in New York includes over 17,000 bridges. Most are not massive waterway crossings, but are smaller bridges that are nonetheless vital in the state's transportation system. These bridges are all ultimately the responsibility of the State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), but counties, other local governments and the City of New York operate and maintain many that are not part of the highway system. These entities have tended to neglect many bridges through poor maintenance practices.
NYSDOT assesses biennially the condition of all the highway bridges. They summarize the results according to a standardized scale of 1 to 7; a rating under 5.0 is deficient, meaning the bridge exhibits deterioration and requires maintenance or rehabilitation to restore to a fully functional state.40 Fully 38 percent of the State's bridges- about 6,650 bridges- do not meet this standard and are classified as functionally obsolete or structurally deficient.41 Functionally obsolete bridges cannot meet standards for the volume of traffic they manage; they may have narrow lanes or no shoulders, for example.42 New York is second in the country in the number of functionally obsolete bridges, with over 4,500.43 Structurally deficient bridges require significant repair or rehabilitation or must have weight limits to remain in service; over 2,100 bridges, 12 percent, are structurally deficient.44
The problem is expected to get worse without policy changes. NYSDOT reports that another 1,450 bridges will become deficient (rated less than 5.0) in the next five years and an additional 1,500 will become deficient in the next six to ten years if proper investments are not made. NYSDOT estimated that almost $31 billion will be needed over the next 20 years to achieve and maintain a state of good repair for state and local highway bridges.45
Some of the poorly maintained bridges are in New York City. The City Department of Transportation annually reviews the condition of its 790 bridges; they are rated as "very good," "good," "fair" or "poor." The number of bridges rated "very good" and "good" has increased in the past ten years, while the number of "fair" and "poor" bridges has decreased; however, the majority of bridges, 58 percent in 2007, continue to be rated fair. Three bridges are in poor condition: the Belt Parkway Bridge over the Mill Basin; a pedestrian bridge over the FDR drive; and, most notably, the Brooklyn Bridge.46
The City DOT has plans to address the deficiencies in its bridges. The Mayor declared achieving a state of good repair on all roads and bridges by 2030 a key priority in the PLANYC agenda; this would require an estimated investment of $1.7 billion.47 Plans to generate some of the funding necessary for this investment via congestion pricing failed to gain support in 2008. The DOT has made eliminating "poor" bridges and engaging in preventive bridge maintenance a key goal of its strategic plan.48 In its Ten-Year Capital Strategy, the City allocates $5.8 billion to bring its bridges to a state of good repair and maintain them during the 2008-2017 period.49 While the City anticipates cutting its capital program as part of it adjustment to revenue declines in fiscal year 2009, substantial funding for bridge repair and maintenance is still likely to be available.
While most bridges throughout the state are small and un-tolled, New York State also has 25 major toll bridges.50 All of these are waterway crossings, with 11 in or connecting to New York City and the others located over the Hudson River, the Niagara River and other bodies of water. None of these bridges are operated and maintained by State, City or country governments; instead, all are owned by public authorities, such as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New York State Thruway Authority, and the New York State Bridge Authority.
These bridges have an initial appeal for PPPs because they have significant revenue streams, and private partners may be able to use enhanced technology for toll collection and to innovate in pricing policies to optimize revenues and traffic flows. In addition, private competition could bring about more efficient maintenance practices; however, to the extent the operating authorities have a better record on these practices than do some general local governments, pursuing PPPs for tolled bridges may not be as high a priority as developing PPPs for poorly maintained un-tolled bridges. Public authorities are able to issue tax-exempt debt backed by tolls, which provide a dedicated revenue stream for financing capital improvements; as a result, many of these bridges are in better condition than those under the control of the State and local governments.
The Tappan Zee Bridge has sometimes been singled out as a candidate for a PPP. The bridge spans the Hudson River, connecting Rockland and Westchester counties, and is operated by the New York State Thruway Authority. Built in 1955, the bridge is heavily trafficked, has outlived its useful life and continues to deteriorate despite substantial investment by the Thruway Authority; at its last inspection, in November 2006, it earned a state rating less than 3.0.51 To address this deficiency, plans have been announced to replace the Tappan Zee with a new bridge that has the capacity for bus rapid transit and rail service. This proposal has been priced at $16 billion including $6.4 billion for the bridge itself, $2.9 billion for highway improvements related to the bus rapid transit routes and $6.7 billion for the rail transit line.52
Private companies have proposed a PPP for construction of the new bridge, and it is the study of financial consultants retained by the New York State Department of Transportation and the Thruway Authority. Any next steps for pursuing a PPP for the Tappan Zee should be informed by this study, although designing a PPP for a new bridge that meets the specs announced by the State may be challenging. A new bridge with bus and rail mass transit options will address critical transportation needs in the area, but operating and maintaining a bridge that provides three separate modes may present challenges in designing a PPP. The jurisdictional overlap between the private operator and Metro-North, which would presumably provide the rail service, generates a tension caused by separating integral responsibilities. The difficulties of operating a service and maintaining infrastructure when right of way is not exclusively in the authority the operator have been a key cause of failure for some projects. These difficulties are described in detail in the last section of this report.
PPPs are also attractive as a means to promote improved conditions and maintenance practices for New York's un-tolled highway bridges. Funding to the private partner could be in the form of an availability payment or a "shadow toll," a payment to the private operator based on use of the bridge and adjusted for the performance of the private partner. To achieve a scale sufficient to justify designing and monitoring a PPP, it likely would be necessary to put together a group of bridges with one private partner. These bridges might be some drawn from New York City with the City DOT as the public partner, and another set from several counties in other parts of the state forming a strategic alliance with the NYSDOT providing technical support. Monitoring should include not only the performance of the private partner in the PPP, but ongoing comparison with use and conditions and cost of maintenance and repair for similar bridges operated directly by the City and by counties or the NYSDOT.
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40 New York State Department of Transportation. "New York State Highway Bridge Data." Accessed 22 August 2008. Available online at https://www.nysdot.gov/portal/page/portal/main/bridgedata.
41 Note: Bridges that are both functionally obsolete and structurally deficient are categorized as structurally deficient only.
42 New York State Department of Transportation. "New York State Highway Bridge Data." Accessed 22 August 2008. Available online at https://www.nysdot.gov/portal/page/portal/main/bridgedata.
43 Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "Condition of U.S. Highway Bridges by State, 2007." As of February 17, 2008. Accessed 22 August 2008. Available online at http://www.bts.gov/current_topics/2008_04_24_bridge_data/html/bridges_by_state.html.
44 New York State Department of Transportation. "New York State Highway Bridge Data." Accessed 2 March 2008. Available online at https://www.nysdot.gov/portal/page/portal/main/bridgedata.
45 New York State Department of Transportation. "Multimodal Investment: Needs and Goals for the Future." 2008. Available online at https://www.nysdot.gov/portal/page/portal/programs/repository/multimodal%20investment%20needs.pdf.
46 New York City Department of Transportation. 2007 Annual Bridge and Tunnel Condition Report. June 2008. Available online at http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bridges/annualbridgerpt07.shtml.
47 PLANYC. "A Greener, Greater New York." City of New York. 22 April 2006. Available online at http://www.nyc.gov/html/planyc2030/html/downloads/download.shtml.
48 New York City Department of Transportation. Sustainable Streets: Strategic Plan for the New York City Department of Transportation, 2008 and Beyond.
49 City of New York. Ten-Year Capital Strategy, Fiscal Years 2008-2017. April 2007, pp. 20-21.
50 Does not include 7 toll bridges connecting to Ontario with miles outside the U.S. See Table T-1, Parts 1 and 2, dataset available online only from "Toll Facilities in the U.S." Federal Highway Administration, Office of Highway Policy Information, December 2002. FHWA-PL-07-029. Available at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/tollpage.htm.
51 New York State Highway Bridge Data for Rockland County. April 2008. Available online at https://www.nysdot.gov/portal/page/portal/main/bridgedata/repository2/RocklandBridgeData.html.
52 New York State Department of Transportation. "Proposal for Tappan Zee Bridge & I-287 Corridor Unveiled," Press Release, September 26, 2008.