NYC set to receive billions in funding from infrastructure bill

New York City is set to score billions in funding for badly needed transit, road and airport improvements from the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure legislation inked by President Biden on Monday.

The package includes as much as $10.7 billion for the MTA’s subways, buses and commuter rails, $2 billion for bridge and tunnel work, $685 million for the region’s airports, $100 million to further expand broadband internet access, $175 million to install new charging stations for electric vehicles and $50 million for “Vision Zero” street safety efforts like improving bike lanes.

The tally, provided by Mayor Bill de Blasio during his daily briefing Tuesday, did not include the $30 billion also set aside in the legislation for improvements to Northeast Corridor rail service, which finally includes funding for desperately new rail tunnels beneath the Hudson River.

“This is a big, big deal,” said Hizzoner, who was joined at the press conference by U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “It’s going to allow us to do things that before were almost impossible to imagine.”

Officials at the state-run MTA have already said that they plan to use the funds to finally begin construction on the second phase of the Second Avenue Subway, extending mass transit deep into hard-scrabble East Harlem.

It will also help pay for work on elevators and other accessibility improvements for subway stations across the system and buying a new fleet of electrified buses that will be far cleaner than their diesel predecessors.

City officials have been far more vague about their plans for the money, though de Blasio said Tuesday that the funding — most of whihc will start flowing to the city under his successor, Eric Adams’ first few months as mayor — would be “transformative.”

“It means more bike lanes, it means more green spaces, more resilient infrastructure, a fight against climate change,” he added. “It’s a miracle.

Additional reporting by David Meyer