Clinton said she supports ambitious highway construction projects in remote, low population areas. She said she would earmark funding for conversion of Route 17 into Interstate 86 across the state's southern tier, and find money for the "Rooftop Highway," a proposal for a big new Watertown-Plattburgh highway along NY's northern border. Clinton also said she supports the High Speed Rail Investment Act, a proposal to funnel $10 billion into various inter-city passenger rail projects.

Neither candidate has had much to say about downstate transportation issues, other than to take a pass on the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement controversy.

A recent Journal-News article said Syracuse area Assemblyman Michael Bragman was weighing an opposition stance to the transportation bond act, citing the state's heavy debt burden. The bond act is strongly supported by State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who Bragman tried to topple in a failed political coup earlier this year.

The bond act may get mixed reviews from environmentalists this year. On one hand, it represents a rare source of solid new state funding for mass transit. On the other, it will give a hefty budget boost to the NY State DOT, which has sprawl- and traffic-promoting sets of highway expansion projects ready to go in Suffolk County and in the Rochester area, not to mention the I-86 and Rooftop boondoggles.



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