President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion infrastructure deal is currently under consideration in congress, but Congressman Brian Higgins and state Senator Tim Kennedy say more money is needed.
Higgins and Kennedy spoke at the DL&W station in downtown Buffalo, which is currently undergoing major renovations right.
The $52 million project will make significant improvements to the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority metro rail track by adding a new station on the first floor, and the second floor will be home to a restaurant and retail space.
The state of the art remodel will be completed in three phases, with government and private funding.
But lawmakers say they need more money to make other critical investments across the region.
"Look at Niagara Street,” Higgins said. “Every dollar you spend you get $7 back, car sharing, Main Street, bridges, roads, all over. Anybody would take an investment you paid $1 and got a 700% return. Corporate tax cuts don't give you that, infrastructure does it. [It] puts all these people to work, and that's what we need in this community, jobs, growth in the local economy."
Higgins says increasing the infrastructure investment could mean billions of dollars in improvements around Western New York.