Long Island Sound link

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The Long Island Sound link is a proposed bridge or tunnel that would link Long Island to the south with New York or Connecticut to the north across Long Island Sound. The most recent proposal involves a tunnel between Rye, New York on the mainland and Oyster Bay on the island. Feasibility studies for both bridges and tunnels have been conducted for numerous entry points, as listed in the chart below.

Contents

[edit] Background

Long Island is connected via tunnels and bridges to Staten Island, Manhattan, and the Bronx. People who wish to travel from Long Island to upstate New York or New England have no better option than cross the Throgs Neck Bridge or the Whitestone Bridge, which are located on the northwestern corner of Long Island. Ferry service between Connecticut and Long Island is available year round. Private companies operate automobile ferries between Bridgeport, CT and Port Jefferson on central Long Island, and between New London, CT and Orient Point on eastern Long Island.[citation needed]

A bridge or tunnel to the center of the island would make most of the island more accessible, and would reduce the travel time of certain routes by hours.[1]

[edit] Proposals

A variety of bridge routes have been proposed:

  1. A bridge connecting Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York, with Sands Point on Long Island. This bridge would lead to a possible spur of Bronx-White Plains Expressway[citation needed] onto Long Island via the unbuilt Western Nassau Expressway in Nassau County.
  2. A bridge connecting Rye in Westchester County, New York, with Oyster Bay on Long Island. This bridge would be an extension of Interstate 287 onto Long Island via the existing Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway in Nassau County.
  3. A second bridge connecting Rye to the City of Glen Cove on Long Island. This bridge would have connected to the Glen Cove Arterial Highway on Long Island.
  4. A bridge connecting Asharoken, New York to either Stamford, or Norwalk, Connecticut. This bridge would have connected to the unbuilt Babylon-Northport Expressway in Western Suffolk County. In Norwalk, it would have led to the already upgraded U.S. Route 7, while in Stamford, it would more than likely have connected to the unbuilt Pound Ridge-Stamford Expressway, and lead back into New York.
  5. A bridge and possible dam connecting Poquott, New York to Bridgeport, Connecticut. This bridge would have connected the unbuilt Suffolk County Road 110 (A.O. Smith Turnpike) to CT 8-25.
  6. A bridge connecting either New Haven, Connecticut or East Haven, Connecticut, with Shoreham, New York, on Long Island. This bridge would be an extension of Interstate 91 which would continue through Long Island via the already existing William Floyd Parkway.
  7. A bridge connecting Riverhead, New York with Guilford, Connecticut. This bridge would have connected at an alternate extension of Interstate 495 to Exit 59 on the Connecticut Turnpike.
  8. A bridge connecting Old Saybrook, Connecticut with East Marion, New York. This bridge would have connected the east end of the Long Island Expressway with CT 9 near Interstate 95 in Connecticut.
  9. A causeway and bridge connecting Orient Point, New York, with Rhode Island along a series of islands between the North Fork of Long Island and an eastern terminus at Interstate 95 in Rhode Island.

All nine ideas were discussed in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, but all were canceled. Some were reconsidered during the 1990s, but the New York State Department of Transportation backed away from the idea in belief that it would not relieve congestion. Long Islanders seem to favor a bridge but New Englanders are not very supportive of the idea, claiming that it would benefit Long Island at their expense.

[edit] Current proposal

 This article or section contains information about a planned or expected future tunnel.
It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change as the construction or completion of the tunnel approaches, and more information becomes available.

In January 2008, this idea re-entered public discussion when developer Vincent Polimeni proposed building a privately-financed, tolled tunnel between Oyster Bay, Long Island and Rye, Westchester County, featuring two tubes carrying three lanes of traffic each and a third tube for maintenance and emergency access. The route would connect Route 135 (Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway) on Long Island to Interstate 287 in Westchester County. It would cost $10 billion and would not be completed until at least 2025. The proposed tunnel would be 16 to 18 miles long, making it the world's longest highway tunnel, longer than the Lærdalstunnelen in Norway.[2] A hearing on this proposal was held in Syosset on January 24, 2008.[3]

[edit] Proposals by year

The idea for a bridge dates back to the 1930s, but most studies were done in the 1960s and 1970s. Details can be found at the cited reference.[1]

  • 1965 - Bertram D. Tallamy Associates performed a study for the New York State Department of Public Works
  • 1966 - New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller began a concerted effort to build a bridge across the Sound.
  • 1971 - Creighton, Hamburg, Incorporated studied 8 bridge proposals for the New York State Department of Transportation.
  • 1979 - New York Governor Hugh Carey set up a tri-state advisory committee to study building a bridge across the Sound.[1]
  • 2001 - Robert Wiemer proposed a tunnel to link Oyster Bay and Rye.[4]
  • 2007 - Long Island based entrepreneurs Vincent Polimeni and his son Michael, engineers Hatch Mott MacDonald, bankers Bear Stearns, and Rubenstein Assoc PR people proposed a tunnel between Oyster Bay and Rye.

[edit] Proposals by location

Proposals for the Sound link are listed below from west to east.[1]

Southern point Northern point Length Bridge or tunnel? Estimated cost Year proposed
Sands Point New Rochelle 3.3 miles Bridge $132 million 1971
Glen Cove Rye 4.6 miles Bridge $150 million 1971
Oyster Bay Rye 6.1 miles Bridge $168 million 1971
Oyster Bay Rye 6.1 miles Tunnel 2001[5]
Oyster Bay Rye 16 miles[6] Tunnel $8 to $10 billion 2007[2]
Northport Norwalk Bridge Before 1971
Syosset Noroton-Norwalk Tunnel 2001[5]
Port Jefferson Bridgeport 14.5 miles Bridge $219 million
$368 million		 1965
1968
Shoreham New Haven 19.3 miles Bridge $565 million
$1.4 billion		 1971
1979
Wading River East Haven Bridge 1979
Riverhead Guilford 20.1 miles Bridge $510 million
$720 million		 1971
1979
East Marion Old Saybrook 10 miles Bridge $206 million
$390 million
$640 million		 1965
1971
1979
Orient Point East Lyme Tunnel 1966
Orient Point Watch Hill 15.4 miles Bridge $392 million
$639 million		 1965
1971
Orient Point Groton and Watch Hill[7] 23.8 miles Bridge $260 million 1963

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d * "Long Island Crossings." Last updated: 6 April 2005. Access date: 11 March 2008.[1] (See also the sources cited on this website.)
  2. ^ a b "Toll tunnel under Long Island Sound NY proposed - Sound Link." Toll Roads News. Posted: 2007-11-26. Access date: 11 March 2008. [2]
  3. ^ "Hearing Held to Discuss Long Island Sound Tunnel Proposal. If Built, Would be Longest Motor Tunnel in the World." By Denise Nash. Manhasset Press, 1 February 2008.
  4. ^ Robert Wiemer. "The Outer Burrow". Newsday cover page, 3 June 2001. Cited in S. Berliner, III.
  5. ^ a b S. Berliner, III. "Long Island Sound Tunnel: The CONNYL". Updated: 5 June 2003. Access date: 11 March 2008. [3]
  6. ^ The tunnel would travel 6 miles underwater and an additional 10 miles under land to reach suitable entry points near the highways.
  7. ^ This would have been a Tri-State Bridge, with a fork at Fisher's Island and separate termini at Groton and Watch Hill.

[edit] External links