City officials recently announced that the state legislature would be handing over an additional $20.7 million from the state’s infrastructure budget to benefit the city of Rochester during 2015, with the goal of increasing the safety of the city’s walkways and roadways.

The extra $20 million in state funding is separate from the $88 million that Rochester and its surrounding municipalities were already set to receive from the state’s infrastructure budget, the Democrat and Chronicle states, and the additional boost will be restricted to capital projects (as opposed to daily operations funds and city programs).

According to the DandC, city officials stated that the extra money will “help fund a number of capital projects” throughout the city, covering projects like the reconstruction of the Dewey Ave.-Driving Park Ave. intersection, buying new equipment for city firefighters, repairing playground equipment, and making bridge and sidewalk repairs around the Midtown corridor.

The safety of Rochester’s infrastructure is something that is often put on the back burner, even though a large population of city residents rely on public transportation and pedestrian walkways to get around. Out of the average 33,000 individual fatalities that result each year from vehicle and pedestrian accidents, the latest 2013 data from the NYS DMV reports that well over 300 pedestrian fatalities occurred in New York State alone.

According to statistics from the law firm of Cellino and Barnes, Monroe County has the second-highest number of traffic fatalities in Western NYS, with about 50 passengers and pedestrians killed in crashes each year.

Last year, Rochester received “a limited boost” in extra infrastructure funding, although it wasn’t enough to make any substantial improvements for city residents.

Following the announcement of the $20.7 million funding boost, Mayor Lovely Warren thanked the state legislature and expressed hope that the funding would have a large impact on the safety of the city.

“These funds will allow us to invest in critical projects in Rochester,” Warren said, “which will provide a direct stimulus to the local economy and help us create more jobs, safer neighborhoods and better schools.”