New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday that the Long Island Expressway resurfacing project had been completed ahead of schedule.
The $80.1 million project from the Nassau-Suffolk border to State Route 112 in Suffolk County was completed a month early – six months after work began. Another pavement renewal project, the Southern State Parkway in Nassau and Suffolk counties, will be completed within the week. In 2022, more than 442 lane miles of state roads across Long Island have been repaved, the governor said, at a cost of $121.6 million.
“The average New Yorker spends $632 because of road damage a year on their vehicles, money that they’ll never get back,” Hochul said. “So, as our families and our motors are getting hit with rising costs, we decided it’s time to turn our potholes into not-holes. So since I took office, we’ve awarded $1.3 billion in capital work across the state of approving over 3,100 miles. And that impact is over $2.3 billion.”
Hochul said the money spent this year to take care of substandard roads and potholes on Long Island was a historic investment.
“I know this road, I know this community, I know this entire state because as Lieutenant Governor, I traveled over 370,000 miles on our roads,” Hochul said. “And so, I have had a personal encounter with just about every pothole that’s out there. And when I come to Long Island, many times, you have had some of the worst.”
Funding for the resurfacing project came from Hochul’s $1 billion “Pave Our Potholes” plan, a five-year program allocating $500 million for local roads and $500 million for state roads.