Bridge/Tunnel to CT (Islip, Oyster Bay: low cost, garden, rail)

[Interlude]

In what scenario would we need to do a mass evacuation of Long Island to the extent that one dinky tunnel would make a lick of difference? Long Island is a fairly disaster-adverse location, weather-wise; Sandy was a massive outlier, and didn’t come close to requiring evacuation of anywhere except some select very flood-prone areas. I’d be far more worried about an event that affects the city, and people pouring east to avoid it (something else that Sandy didn’t trigger despite the serious impact it had on lower Manhattan and Brooklyn).

Unless your home is compromised, you’re generally better staying in it for 99% of the disasters we’re likely to face. And no tunnel is going to help millions of people leave all at once. It can take hours upon hours to get over the freakin Verrazano or up the 95 corridor through New Haven during peak times. Just the nature of living in a densely populated area.

[S.I.B.]

Originally Posted by Jdawg8181

But what about evacuating people in case of a hurricane?


We saw what Sandy did ... we are essentially trapped here!

huh? Since when do you need to evacuate all of Long Island for a hurricane? Even one as severe as Sandy?

The only good thing about hurricanes is that you know far in advance that they're coming. So if you're in a low lying area - you always have plenty of time to evacuate. But if you wait too long, your tunnel to CT isn't going to help. We saw last year in Florida that people who waited too long were unable to head north due to insane traffic.

[Jdawg8181]

Originally Posted by S.I.B.

huh? Since when do you need to evacuate all of Long Island for a hurricane? Even one as severe as Sandy?

The only good thing about hurricanes is that you know far in advance that they're coming. So if you're in a low lying area - you always have plenty of time to evacuate. But if you wait too long, your tunnel to CT isn't going to help. We saw last year in Florida that people who waited too long were unable to head north due to insane traffic.

Sandy is just the start ... this is going to become more of an occurrence with stronger and stronger hurricanes. Many places that have never had weather events before are now seeing them.


There WILL be another Sandy...

[S.I.B.]

Originally Posted by Jdawg8181

Sandy is just the start ... this is going to become more of an occurrence with stronger and stronger hurricanes. Many places that have never had weather events before are now seeing them.

There WILL be another Sandy...

ok. What I said still stands. You could have a storm worse than Sandy and you still don't need to evacuate all of Long Island...or even a large number of people. And for those that need to evacuate, you still have plenty of time to leave given the advance notice you get with storms of this size.

[Jdawg8181]

Originally Posted by S.I.B.

ok. What I said still stands. You could have a storm worse than Sandy and you still don't need to evacuate all of Long Island...or even a large number of people. And for those that need to evacuate, you still have plenty of time to leave given the advance notice you get with storms of this size.

One would think but some people do wait ... not everyone has the means to prep and get out ahead of time. It's the smart thing, no doubt, but it's not always feasible for everyone.


Also you don't know if the entire island would have to evacuate or not .. are you able to predict weather events in the future? No one know what will happen.


I happen to believe Sandy is just the beginning and we haven't had 'the big one' yet.

[S.I.B.]

Originally Posted by Jdawg8181

One would think but some people do wait ... not everyone has the means to prep and get out ahead of time. It's the smart thing, no doubt, but it's not always feasible for everyone.

So what you're saying is that we should spend billions for a tunnel because some people are dumb.

Also you don't know if the entire island would have to evacuate or not .. are you able to predict weather events in the future? No one know what will happen.

It's math. Most of the island is at an elevation that make it safe from flooding.

[thebobs]

Originally Posted by S.I.B.

So what you're saying is that we should spend billions for a tunnel because some people are dumb.

It's math. Most of the island is at an elevation that make it safe from flooding.

Also using math, even if the following were built:

135 bridge to westchester
sunken meadow parkway bridge to ct
william floyd bridge to ct
south shore bridge to jersey

Using both north shore ferries, opening up east bound lanes to go west bound, with the entire population of nassau and suffolk, you would never evacuate half of that population. and i'm most likely being generous in thinking that half of the two counties would make it off.

[ovi8]

Are our taxes undoubtedly going to increase as a direct result of spending billions on this?

[VA Yankee]

/\

After the threat of hurricane Gloria in the 80's Virginia got smart and altered I64 the one interstate in/out for the entire Hampton Roads region to allow all the lanes to become west bound only to the beltway around Richmond. They did it by installing automatic gates on the on ramps and creating some cross over locations to disperse the volume of traffic over all the interstate lanes. That type of traffic management can do far more than another crossing over open water, I was amazed that Florida didn't do something similar to expedite their residents getting away from the coast.

[thebobs]

Originally Posted by ovi8

Are our taxes undoubtedly going to increase as a direct result of spending billions on this?

Of course. Because the construction will go to the highest bidder who also happens to be the politicians brother or sister or uncle or aunt or great great grandpappy or their fathers bothers cousins former roommate.