21st Century needs road and bridge repair solutions.

Despite the frenzied predictions about a fundamental restructuring of society because of the Internet, we can easily lose sight of the underlying needs for safe, efficient daily transportation. People commuting to work and the efficient delivery of goods and services is still the cornerstone of our economy and society.

If the 21st Century promises a highly productive world, thanks to technological advances, then government leaders must do their part by re-directing their attention to New York State's failing network of roads and bridges.

A recent North Carolina University study, sponsored by a transportation research organization, reported that New York State government could spend as much as $26 billion over the next five years on transportation to meet the current needs of local and state governments. Because New York now spends less than half that amount, conditions are expected to deteriorate in the coming years. New York State bridges, the most deficient and deteriorated in the nation, according to the study, and our aging road pavement beg a swift and formidable response by our state transportation professionals and the elected officials who control their department's purse strings.

If matters weren't bad enough, congestion on the state's most essential roadways is growing, and predicted to get worse. Virtually every highway serving the Hudson Valley region was designed for 1950 traffic capacity. Back then, road engineers hardly imagined the growth in population and business activity that has occurred in Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester counties. Recent projections by the Texas University Transportation Institute envision 40 percent growth in national vehicle use by the year 2015. Hudson Valley vehicle miles are likely to grow even faster.

Another transportation study that is now being compiled, which is scheduled to be released in early 2000, and will cite significant safety concerns. Preliminary findings rank New York the worst state in the nation for injuries when measured by vehicle miles traveled, according to the New York Roadway Improvement Coalition, which is funding the study.

The New York Thruway, interstate highways I-84 and I-95, and the more recent completion of I-287 at Suffern in Rockland have resulted in unprecedented expansion of residential and commercial building and activity in the Lower Hudson Valley. These roads provided Midwest and New England shippers direct links to the world's most concentrated business center - the Northeast. Likewise, if Stewart Airport operators finally fulfill the two-decade-long promise of a modern air-transport facility for passengers and commerce, the need for safer, congestion-free roads will be even greater.

In the face of these image-damaging statistics, state government officials must adopt an aggressive campaign to repair and improve our transportation system. Amazing as it may seem, however, the very opposite is true. In terms of inflation-adjusted dollars, New York sadly spends about $200 million less today than it did in 1988. That's according to the Federal Highway Administration's own calculation of purchasing power in the heavy/highway industry and the impact of inflation.

Nearly two years ago, Congress adopted a new six-year federal highway act that promised to increase annual federal transportation aid to New York by 44 percent. Tragically, our state's response to date to this windfall has been pathetic. In the name of "debt reform," state government has conducted a misguided campaign of cutting back on spending when every transportation indicator points to the need to increase spending in the coming years. Because of our abominable safety performance record, one could even argue that putting the motoring public at risk is a breach of the public trust, thus elevating this discussion to one of moral obligation.

It's time to accept the fact that the Internet's promise won't replace rusted steel, broken concrete or rutted asphalt. It will take the initiative and will of our leader, Governor George E. Pataki, to step up to the challenge and commit sufficient capital investment to improve New York's transportation infrastructure.