Wednesday, May 8, 2024 | St. Lawrence County, NY
By CRAIG FREILICH CANTON – St. Lawrence County and its towns and villages are now relieved to have guidance on how road projects under the new PAVE-NY reimbursement program can be done. “The …
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By CRAIG FREILICH
CANTON – St. Lawrence County and its towns and villages are now relieved to have guidance on how road projects under the new PAVE-NY reimbursement program can be done.
“The guidelines are very similar to the CHIPS program, but more restrictive,” said County Highway Superintendent Don Chambers.
The CHIPS program is a long-standing road and bridge funding program from the state DOT whose rules are well known.
Chambers was concerned earlier this week that the more than $890,000 extra allocated this year for the county highway department under the new PAVE-NY program, and the more than $570,000 allotted to county municipalities under PAVE-NY, was being held up by the lack of a memorandum of understanding between the governor’s office and the Legislature that would lay out administrative details of the program.
Without those details, including the procedure for reimbursing localities under the program, highway chiefs were worried that they would not get a timely start on some of the projects they have scheduled for this season.
But those guidelines came through on Tuesday from the governor’s office.
“We have a short construction season in the North Country, and it makes a difference not knowing what the rules are going to be because the MOU is not in place,” Chambers said. “So the county has not progressed in the projects we would ask reimbursement for.”
Chambers said the new PAVE-NY rules are more restrictive than CHIPS, requiring the funds, “in keeping with the name, be used on paving-type projects, and related projects – curbing, sidewalks, culverts, but no bridge replacement where you could have that with CHIPS. PAVE-NY allows pavement rehabilitation, road reconstruction, surface treatments, a whole lot of operations up to heavy maintenance.”
He said that “projects planned for the 2016 will meet the criteria in the regulations for PAVE-NY. The projects planned will be in conformance.”
So far, Chambers said, there has been no release of a memorandum of understanding for the BRIDGE-NY program, with another round of funding and another set of guidelines.
