Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces Major Capital Region Infrastructure Projects to Improve Rail Service and Boost Economic Development

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that construction has begun on a $634.8 million project to replace the Livingston Avenue Rail Bridge, which will replace the Civil War-era passenger rail bridge spanning the Hudson River between the cities of Albany and Rensselaer; and provide a modern crossing that will improve service and reliability along New York State’s Empire Corridor and throughout the entire northeast. Governor Hochul also announced a $10 million award to demolish the Central Warehouse, a blighted building in Downtown Albany, pieces of which have fallen onto nearby rail tracks disrupting Amtrak service for thousands of New Yorkers.

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

AUDIO of the Governor's remarks is available here.

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

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

Good morning. Good morning. Let's talk infrastructure. Yes, we love it. We love it. We all know that when the Livingston Bridge was first built 150 years ago, our nation was divided. We were in a Civil War with each other. But this bridge, the Livingston Avenue Bridge was built to do the opposite, to be a connection, to bring people in places together. And that legacy continues to endure here in this incredible city. This bridge has crossed the Hudson linking Albany and Rensselaer, but also the trains that went over the tracks have linked people from New York City to Upstate all the way over to Buffalo for generations. But sadly, since it was once a brand-new shining bridge, it has deteriorated – rusted, declined, crying for investment and attention where there was none. Well, that legacy of abandonment ends today.

And I want to thank the individuals who worked so hard to right the wrongs of the past, the neglect, the uncaring attitude and put us on a track toward a better future. Commissioner Dominguez, head of DOT – she and I have been together nonstop. We had the Gateway Project in New York City this past couple days ago, the largest public infrastructure project in American history going on right now. We worked on an airport over in Syracuse. Here we are in Albany and we're just getting warmed up. So, thank you and your team. Everyone from DOT – thank you. We know how hard you work, and you're committed to accomplishing my goals of making sure that we use infrastructure as a tool to create jobs, fix the decline of the past and lead us into a better future. So again, thank you for your incredible team.

Congressman Paul Tonko – we served together in Congress. I know how hard he fights for this area and we're looking to him and to our partners with Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to help continue to bring home the bacon as you have. And this project could use a little more help and you know that and you're helping us. How is that for a good pitch?

Kathy Sheehan, my adopted hometown Mayor – incredible leadership here as well. There's always been challenges in any city, but you've always had the team and the attitude to just get it done and to continue focusing on what matters and that's the quality of life of the people who call Albany home. So, thank you, Mayor. Thank you for all you do.

I have amazing partners from this region in our capital. They have the shortest commute in the state. With all that extra energy they are out there in their communities. So, to Assemblymember Pat Fahy, Assemblymember John McDonald, thank you both for supporting these projects with the dollars that we put behind them. I'm so grateful for that as well. Assemblymember Scott Bendett, thank you very much as well. We appreciate your service to all of us. And our friends from Amtrak. Who's here from Amtrak? All right, Amtrak's in the house. Let's get these trains rolling, right? That's what you know how to do best. The members of the REDC Council, the Regional Economic Development Council, and all of our community partners who are here.

So, it's stating the obvious that this bridge is near the end of its life, right? Don't need any more symbols. It's been frustrating travelers across the state with delays and the reliability issues which have been there. You know what happens here affects the rest of the state. So, when trains have to slow down to 15 miles per hour instead of 40 that has a ripple effect throughout every other community along the way. It affects people's ability to get to work on time, to get home to carry on their business, and so that is not okay.

And that's not the reputation I want my adopted hometown to have as the bottleneck or the problem area. Okay. Right? We don't like that. Right, Mayor? No, we're not the problem area. We are the people who solve the problems and it's not the reputation that this glorious city deserves. And I can say glorious city because I was so proud to show off this city to the king and queen of the Netherlands just a few weeks ago. As they came on a journey to talk about what had happened over 400 years ago, when this city first became a center of commerce. And we talked about the Hudson River, how critically important it is, but also the connections across the river, which are critical. So, I know what this city has a glorious past, but I feel confident we continue making these investments in the people, the places and the infrastructure – we're going to continue on even better than we had been before.

So, let's talk about what we're doing here – $634 million. We'll be restoring the two-track operation. Increasing, as I said, the train speeds from 15 miles an hour to 40 – more than doubling it, building a reliable lift bridge and signal system. That's so important. And also, as a bicyclist who buzzes around this community, you don't know it's me, but that's me out there sometimes early in the morning, not going very fast, but I'm there. We're going to create a bike path and a pedestrian walkway that'll connect bicyclists and walkers across the river. How magnificent is that?

So, as I said, we're looking forward to Washington for further help with our champions there. People who long believed in this project, like Congressman Tonko, but we just can't wait any longer. Show us the money when you can, but this project has to move ahead. So, that's why I made the commitment saying, “No, we've waited long enough. This community has waited long enough. Our passengers have waited long enough. And we're going to make sure we get this done.” So, I want to get it done.

I'm told 2028. This is what I always do to the people in the industry. Can we shave a year or two off? Okay, see what you can do. What you can do. I'll be around to check. So, if we can make that a little quicker, that'd be awesome, but I think that's where we're heading for right now.

But I also want to say as someone who rides my bike around the city and observes everything, there's also another eyesore that can’t escape my line of sight when I'm down in this beautiful area. It's more visually assaulting than most. In fact, it has had challenges that actually affect our ability to run our trains successfully. A place that was once a hub of industry is now a monument to blight and poses a danger to train passengers when debris falls on the tracks.

Therefore, I'm saying, a new day has dawned. We are announcing $10 million from New York's Restore program to accomplish what has been so challenging in the past, and that is the demolition of this tower of neglect, the Central Warehouse. Thank you very much. Let's get it done. And I want to look really nice. Okay. I want to look really nice.

And I want to thank County Executive McCoy, who couldn't be here today, but he has been a great help. Every chance he gets my ear, which is often, he has been advocating for this as well as our mayor and our delegation here as well.

So, both of these projects send a signal. This is a community that matters. It's worth investing in. Its people are worth investing in and these will both connect our communities in better ways. And it continues my effort across the state. My philosophy is undo the wrongs of the past now. Don't let more time waste.

That's why over in Buffalo, we're connecting communities that have been severed back in the 1950s and 60s, when there was this effort to have highways out of our downtown areas to expedite the white flight that was occurring, and it destabilized our downtown areas. So, we're healing that community as well.

We're also working on other areas, like the Albany waterfront. I won't say – I always want to say what were they thinking? What were they thinking? And from Buffalo to Syracuse, right? We have a beautiful waterfront here in Albany. Why wouldn't you leave this open for the community? It's a treasure. But there was a time that the waterways were just used as an industrial passage, a place you put industry and use the water and the ships come through, not realizing that water is so healing for people. People need to have that sense of calm that the water, the streams, our rivers bring to them.

So, let's connect the people to the waterways every way we can. And I'm going to continue making those investments as we're talking about fixing up the water frontier as well because this is personally important to me. I'm a boater, I'm a biker, I'm a walker, I'm a resident. So, I also at a personal level believe in projects and expediting them as soon as possible. And the person who's going to make that happen for me is our Commissioner.