BUFFALO, N.Y. — Four months ago, the governor proposed a budget with significant cuts to infrastructure across the state, but state Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Tim Kennedy said now the legislature is prepared to actually invest more in roads and bridges across the New York.

"The bottom line is what we got here is of historic proportions. We drove an agenda forward that resulted in over a quarter of a billion dollars in more funding than we got last year on top of all the funding in infrastructure that were already in existence," Kennedy said.

He said a federal relief bill that injected more than $100 billion into New York was key; something he doesn't believe would have been possible without the new Democratic U.S. Senate majority.

"Which has basically allowed us to right the ship," he said. "Get us back to square one. Allow us to make investments into the future rather than having to make cuts, which we would have been forced to do if Washington didn't get us that relief."

The infrastructure plan now includes an additional $100 million for the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program known as CHIPS; a 23 percent increase to a program that hasn't had one since 2013. It also restores the Extreme Winter Recovery Funds initiative and adds an extra $35 million to bring the total to $100 million.

The PAVE-NY total investment increases 50 percent from the previous budget, now at $150 million.

"This will be the new baseline here in New York state for our roads and our infrastructure," Kennedy said.

He said one of the things he is proudest of is a new $100 million City Touring Roads program which will focus on cities he says have been disproportionately impacted by the lack of investment for decades. Money will be disbursed based on the number of non-state highway road miles in municipalities.

The state senator said Upstate cities like his hometown of Buffalo will be among the big winners.

"Every single side of the city of Buffalo we are seeing growth," he said. "What we need to make sure is that the city has the resources to support that growth in the community publicly with a strategic investment of infrastructure funds. Now the cities are going to have those funds."

Kennedy said the state investment is only the first step as he expects the federal government to pass a $2-$4 trillion infrastructure bill in the next few months that will allow for long-talked about projects to address the Buffalo Skyway or I-81 in Syracuse to become realities.