Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner is calling on Congress to replenish the highway trust fund, to fix and upgrade the city’s interstates, saying the fund’s stability has implications for the future of Interstate-81.
Whatever the decision on I-81 in Syracuse is, money to rebuild or remove it will come from multiple sources, one those being the federal government.
Miner stood in front of the noisy viaduct Thursday to tell representatives in Congress the highway trust fund is the base of that funding source.
"It is time for them to solve this problem and get revenue in there for the future of 81, for roads and bridges across our country," she said.
The highway trust fund is set to run out of money at the end of May. The gas tax usually funds public transit and road repairs, but those collections are shrinking because people are driving more fuel-efficient cars. And new transportation bills have stalled in Congress.
"We cannot update, maintain, repair our infrastructure unless we have revenue," she said. "And the federal government and Congress in particular, has always funded the Highway Trust Fund."
Several other mayors around the nation made similar pitches today.