The city will need almost $50 billion to overhaul its outdated infrastructure over the next five years, a new report says.
The Center for an Urban Future analysis calls for Mayor Bill de Blasio to invest in infrastructure and focus on repairs — and recommends a toll on the now-free East River bridges and residential parking permits.
It says that most of the city’s roads, bridges, subways and schools are more than 50 years old — and over 1,000-plus miles of water mains were built more than a century ago.
“There can be a water main break in lower Manhattan and our engineers won’t be able to find it,” said city planner Alexander Garvin in the report.
Just last year, there were 403 water main breaks.
The report also says that over 25 percent of the subway signal system is over 70 years old — and its subway shops and repair yards are an average of 90 years old.
It also notes that many stations have broken tiles, leaking roofs and flaking paint — a step up from the graffiti and track fire-plagued system in the 1980s, but a far cry from Tokyo or Seoul’s newer subway systems.
An MTA spokesman said the agency has invested some $90 billion in infrastructure over the past 30 years, and has spent $6 billion on modernizing its signal system over the past eight years. Brooklyn roads were rated the best, with almost 75 percent considered in good condition — while less than 60 percent of Manhattan and Staten Island roads were considered good, the report added.