Assemblyman Mark Walczyk, R-Watertown, and Assemblyman Robert Smullen, R-Meco, joined local leaders and highway superintendents from across the state to call on the legislature to provide municipalities with what they see as proper funding.

Through programs such as the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS), the state provides pays for infrastructure maintenance and improvement.

“Infrastructure maintenance is something most of us rarely think about,” Walczyk said in a prepare statement. “Imagine taking your kid to soccer practice; you fill up their water bottle in the sink, drive down the road to the intersection, cross a bridge and drop them off at the field. Each step of that is made possible by hardworking professionals who need our help and more resources. From clean water to safe roads and bridges, these are the people who keep everything running properly. I am proud to join so many passionate people to call for the funding they need to keep our roads and infrastructure working.”

Municipal leaders and highway officials throughout the state recently traveled to Albany to voice their concerns over infrastructure funding. Smullen’s office said he and his colleagues “assured them that the Assembly Minority conference stood in unity with them.”

Smullen echoed their calls to increase CHIPS funding and create a long-term sustainable financial plan to ensure roads and bridges are up to standard, his office said.

“Going about our day to day lives we often take for granted all the time and hard work that goes into maintaining our roads and bridges,” Smullen said in a prepared statement. “We forget the legions of professionals behind the scenes making sure our commute to work, taking the kids to school or a trip to the store is safe and sound every time. It is our job to give these people the funding they need to ensure that our communities remain safe. Long term strategies create long term benefits, it is as simple as that.”