Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces $80.1 Million Long Island Expressway Pavement Renewal Project Completed Ahead of Schedule

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the $80.1 million resurfacing project on the Long Island Expressway from the Nassau-Suffolk border to State Route 112 in Suffolk County is now complete. In April, the New York State Department of Transportation began work on this critical project, which was completed this morning, Thursday, October 20 - six months after initial work began and one month ahead of schedule. The Governor also announced that the major pavement renewal project on the Southern State Parkway in Nassau and Suffolk Counties is being completed this week. This year, more than 442 lane miles of state roads across Long Island have been repaved with new asphalt - totaling $121.6 million.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks are available below:

Good morning, everyone and thank you for joining us this beautiful morning. I will tell you one thing, it's a lot warmer than it was when I was here in the middle of winter to do a storm event to talk about how we were handling the ice on the roads. But so, it is a beautiful day. Little bit of noise in the background, but that's intentional because he wanted to show you that all those vehicles on the LIE are moving smoothly. They're not getting stuck in potholes.

I want to, first of all, thank our incredible, hardworking, dedicated Commissioner of DOT, Commissioner Dominguez, who has done an extraordinary job and just embraced her role to really just champion the cause of our communities, making sure that they are connected, that they have the resources they need, and that we take care of some of the most basic needs, and that is to take care of our roads and our potholes.

Also, I want to introduce Assemblymember Taylor Darling. And I'll be mentioning why she's here today in particular. A conversation we had that led to this day, and I want to thank her as well. I also want to give credit to our President, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and all the members of Congress who actually voted for infrastructure dollars that we're able to use here today. I think that's critically important. So, last time I was here, we were talking about auto thefts and the theft of catalytic converters just earlier in this week because that's one of the main drivers of property crimes. But it's also, as we talk about car owners and what they have to deal with, it's not just having the threat of your vehicle stolen, it's also the additional costs that come from repairs when you have damage done to your vehicle because of pothole.

So, I'm here to announce that we're making progress. I really conveyed my disdain for potholes, even my State of the State address. And 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. 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. And I said literally six months ago today, six months ago today, we made a commitment that we would work hard, we'd deploy the resources, the teams, the hardworking men and women of the DOT and our private union friends who helped us get the job done. But I said, "We can do this and do it quickly." So, here we are. Here we are to make the announcement that we've made tremendous progress.

And I want to mention again why Taylor Darling is here. I was speaking to her last fall, I think it was. I said, "Where are you? There's a lot of noise there." She says, "Well, I'm in a tire repair shop because I just had an encounter - or a family member had an encounter with a pothole, and we have over $500 worth of damage and it isn't the first time." And I said, "Right." Then I said, "We're going to fix those. We're coming after them. We're going to say no family should have to endure the stress and the additional cost, especially when everything is going through the roof, and we're concerned about rising costs in groceries and in gas." Unfortunately, the gas will start coming down now, but you know, you don't need this. People don't need that grief. They don't need to have to dish out that kind of money because of something that they didn't have anything to do with. It was just a failure of infrastructure on our highway.

So, we announced a $1 billion Pave Our Potholes Plan in my State of the State. It is one of the most applauded things I did for people who live in communities like this. It's a five-year program to allocate over $500 million for local roads, and also $500 million for state roads. We're partnering with our local governments as well. They're not all on state highways. We feel a responsibility, and I appreciate this coming out of local government for 14 years, that the state actually is helping the local governments have the funds they need to get this done.

So, I'm proud to announce that the completion of our $80 million project to reservice the Long Island Expressway from the Nassau-Suffolk border to Route 112 in Suffolk County. As I mentioned, we announced this six months ago. I am delighted that we are literally one month ahead of schedule and I want to commend you for being so persistent, Commissioner Dominguez, and your team, in getting this job done. That's how I like to do it. You can tell me six months, you can tell me seven months. I'm going to say, "Okay, I know we can shave off some time there," and you announced that as well. We're also announcing - we're completing this - the third of three major Southern State Parkway resurfacing projects over 121 lane miles, and overall new asphalt on over 442 miles all across Long Island just in this year, just since the season started.

So, in Southern State, the LIE, finishing these projects, but it's more than that. It's also, as I mentioned, we have a responsibility to fix our deteriorating roads. These are those quality-of-life issues that people talk about. And as I come to Long Island - constantly travel the state. When I'm here, I hear so much about our love for the Islanders, property taxes and potholes. And I can't help the Islanders, I hope they have a great season, but I know there's at least two areas we can help out, and also property taxes by getting more money to our school districts so they have the ability to reduce their taxes.

But right now, because of deteriorating roadways, New York's roadway conditions result in over $7 billion in additional operating costs, and one out of 10 US drivers have suffered vehicle damage. The average New Yorker spends $632 because of road damage a year on their vehicles, money that they'll never get back. 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. We're making thousands and thousands of miles, over 4,000 lane miles improvements. So, we're going to continue. I'm just here to say, got the job done. I commend everybody who had a role in this. This is incredible. An historic investment. More money has been spent just this past year to take care of a problem that has been long associated with Long Island, and no more will we tolerate substandard roads or potholes on our highways.

So, you're going to use the roads. We're going to maintain them, and that's exactly what we're going to keep doing. With that, Commissioner Dominguez, I want to thank you for being the leader that we needed when I said, right in this spot six months ago, "Let's get the job done," and you did it. So, congratulations and let's hear from a great commissioner, Marie Therese Dominguez.