From the eternal spring of releases and statements sent forth by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s public relations fountain flows this bit of news: the senator has met with the man nominated to head the Federal Highway Administration and she has asked him what he will do for New York.

It’s not like the nominee, Thomas J. Madison Jr., needs to be educated about New York’s needs. A resident of the state, he is also a former commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation.

But Clinton wanted to start working with him from the start to be sure the state isn’t forgotten.

Here’s the text of her release:

SENATOR CLINTON DISCUSSES NEW YORK’S TRANSPORTATION NEEDS WITH FEDERAL HIGHWAY ADMINISTRATOR NOMINEE

Urges Support for New York Transportation Infrastructure

WASHINGTON, DC—Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today met with Thomas J. Madison, Jr., the nominee to be Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration within the U.S. Department of Transportation, to discuss the needs of New York’s transportation system. During the meeting, Senator Clinton gave Mr. Madison a letter asking how he intends to address New York’s transportation needs, including shortfalls in the Highway Trust Fund, and resolve long-standing issues at the Peace Bridge.

“New York’s aging transportation infrastructure is in need of critical investments, and I’m confident Mr. Madison, a native New Yorker, understands these challenges and how to address them,” said Senator Clinton. “I look forward to working with him in the future to meet New York’s transportation needs.”

“I hope as Federal Highway Administrator, Mr. Madison will work with the City of Buffalo and the State of New York to make the Peace Bridge a success,” Senator Clinton added.

The text of Senator Clinton’s letter follows.

Dear Mr. Madison,

Congratulations on your nomination to be Administrator of the Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) within the United States Department of Transportation. As you know, our national transportation system faces unprecedented challenges. Our aging transportation infrastructure is in constant disrepair, increasingly disrupts our economy and our quality of life and will require a significant national investment.

As a New Yorker and the former Commissioner of the New York State Department of Transportation, you are well aware that New York is a diverse state – home to cities, suburbs, small towns, and rural communities. Our transportation needs are great and they are growing. New York’s state and local highway system annually handles over 100 billion vehicle miles. This total system encompasses more than 113,000 highway miles and more than 16,000 bridges. As you know, New York City’s mass transit system handles nearly one third of the nation’s transit passengers. It provides 8.5 million rides each day and over 2.6 billion rides a year. It’s critical that New York’s transportation needs are met.

Therefore, as you move forward in the nomination process, here are a few questions I have for how we can address our transportation problems in the nation and in the State of New York:

The Highway Trust Fund was expected to hit a $3 billion shortfall in 2009, but new estimates show that figure could increase to $6 billion. In the President’s Fiscal Year 2009 budget request, the President proposed a short-term fix by transferring $3.2 billion from the Mass Transit Account to fund the Highway Trust Fund. The Mass Transit account is expected to face a solvency crises by fiscal year 2011. Given importance of transit to New York and the extremely tight fiscal situation in the state, do you support the Administration’s proposal of addressing the bankruptcy of the Highway Trust Fund at the expense of the Mass Transit account?
Congress has come forward with a plan to transfer $8 billion in general revenueto the Highway Trust Fund. Yet the Administration has described this as “both a gimmick and a dangerous precedent that shifts costs from users to taxpayers at large.” Outside of the Administration’s budget proposal, do you believe there is an alternative to the plan put forward by Congress to address the Highway Trust Fund shortfall?
As you may know, the Peace Bridge Authority (PBA) at the Buffalo/Fort Erie border crossing is seeking to move forward with its plan to build a new plaza on the Buffalo side of the border. The construction of a new plaza will coincide with the construction of a new Peace Bridge. Without Shared Border Management, it is impossible to build a plaza in Buffalo without encroaching into the nearby neighborhoods and park space. At the site of the Peace Bridge, what do you think would be the best plan to minimize adverse impacts to the surrounding communities and ease congestion at the border?

We cannot continue to rest on our laurels, relying on the investments of past generations in our nation’s infrastructure instead of investing in our roads and railways to benefit future generations. That’s our responsibility, and it’s one I hope we will meet. I know you share with me the importance of investing in our transportation infrastructure. I look forward to working with you in tackling these ever-increasing needs.

Sincerely,

Hillary Rodham Clinton