NY Gets $16.2M for Staten Ferry, Other Projects

The federal government is giving New York $16.2 million in grants to convert the Staten Island Ferry to natural gas, rehabilitate bridges in Albany and fund 11 other transportation projects in the state.

The biggest chunk of money, about $3.8 million, will go toward improving bridges on I-787 in Albany. Another $2.4 million will be spent on improving a dock in Islip.

A project to convert the Staten Island Ferry to liquefied natural gas will get $2.3 million. The Lake Champlain Ferry is getting $920,000 to rebuild a slip in Clinton County.

Scenic byways and a bike path are also getting money. The Route 20 Scenic Byway near Cooperstown is getting $190,000 in improvement funds. Another $38,000 will go to install signs along the Mohawk Towpath Byway, which follows the route of the Erie Canal between Schenectady and Waterford.

About $1.2 million will go toward building a bike path in Lake Placid.

The money is coming from the Federal Highway Administration, which doles out millions of dollars in federal grants each year. This year there were more than 1,800 applications from across the country, the agency said.