Ryan Reveals City of Buffalo Has More Than $38 Million in Unspent Road Repair Funding, Criticizes Acting Mayor’s 63% Cut to Road Repair Budget
As Mayor, Ryan will Prioritize Improving Road Infrastructure and Buffalo’s Neighborhoods
BUFFALO – Today, April 11, 2025, New York State Senator Sean Ryan, the Endorsed Democrat for Mayor of Buffalo, announced plans to tackle Buffalo’s pothole crisis to improve quality of life. Ryan revealed that the City of Buffalo has more than $38 million in unspent road repair funding from New York State. Ryan said that as mayor, he will work to expedite road repair projects so dollars from the state and federal governments are spent as quickly as possible.
“Twenty years of tired leadership has left Buffalo with crumbling infrastructure, closed pools, and dilapidated streets. Buffalo deserves better,” Ryan said. “As Mayor, I'll fix it.”
“I’ve spoken to Buffalonians in every corner of our city,” Ryan continued. “They know that our roads are in rough shape, and community centers are in desperate need of renovations and modernization. At the same time, our streets don’t get plowed, with side streets often left impassable for days on end. Buffalo faces a budget crisis that has directly impacted the delivery of essential city services. Buffalo deserves better. That’s why as Mayor I’ll work to get our fiscal house in order so we can fix our infrastructure and improve the quality of life for Buffalo families.”
In announcing his plans to improve quality of life in the City of Buffalo, Ryan noted that as of March 14, the City had $38,341,526.40 in unspent road repair funding from New York State. Based upon cost estimates from the NYSDOT, that amount equals 83 lane miles of road that the city is actively choosing not to fix. If Buffalo actually took advantage of all this available state money, it could repair many miles of roadways this year at no additional cost to taxpayers.
“Our streets are falling apart while City Hall sits on repair funds,” Ryan said. “Good roads build strong communities. We have the resources—now we need to see the results.”
The City of Buffalo has the highest amount of unspent road repair funding of any municipality in the state outside of New York City. This dereliction of duty puts the City of Buffalo out of compliance with NYSDOT guidelines; municipalities are encouraged to minimize their accumulation of rollover funds, and spend up to their full apportionment each State fiscal year on capital projects eligible for reimbursement. The funding is allocated by five distinct but similar state programs, and the unspent funds break down as follows:
Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS)
- Buffalo’s unspent funds: $8,731,571.99
Extreme Winter Recovery (EWR)
- Buffalo’s unspent funds: 2,548,040.98
PAVE-NY
- Buffalo’s unspent funds: $1,417,605.53
Pave Our Potholes (POP)
- Buffalo’s unspent funds: $2,116,662.07
State Touring Routes (STR)
- Buffalo’s unspent funds: $23,527,645.83
Ryan also criticized Chris Scanlon’s proposed city budget, which includes a significant cut to city-funded road repair funding. Scanlon is slashing road repair appropriations to $565,000 from the $1,530,000 budgeted for this year. Based on year-to-date spending, the city is on pace to spend $1.2 million of that budgeted sum before the end of the fiscal year, but is slashing road repair funds by 63% for next year.
Prioritizing road maintenance and repair is a key part of Ryan’s plan to improve the quality of life for Buffalo families.
Ryan recently held a contest on social media called “Buffalo Pothole Madness” to bring attention to Buffalo’s pothole crisis. Followers voted for the worst pothole, and the winner was the “Ashland Avenue Abyss.” Shockingly, despite the attention drawn to this pothole over the course of the last month during the contest, the City of Buffalo had not filled it. The Buffalo Pothole Bandit, who has gained notoriety in Buffalo for filling potholes around the city using mosaic tile artwork, recently filled in the winning pothole, in the absence of leadership from the acting mayor.
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