Building a Bridge Over The Long Island Sound (New York, Oyster Bay: casinos, income)

[Thruway]

I posted this on the CT forum and was amazed at the backwards denial CT residents are in.
They like to bash NY as bringing over traffic but forget that because of being so close to NY it has allowed CT tourism and businesses to grow and has increased the tax base.

Some even deny that I-95 needs fixed and feel that NYers can just "take the traffic" in stride.

Curious as to your opinion.
I feel CT residents are acting like republicans with health care...their answer is always no...and they don't want a solution because they have a complex that CT compared to NY is really an unimportant, boring suburbia state.



I say I-95 is way too narrow a road at 6 lanes from New Haven to the NY State border.
It was built pre-interstate, has too many interchanges, and is not sufficently large.

It really needs to be like the NJTP....12 lanes from New Haven to the NY State border.....divided with 3 in each direction for local and 3 for express.
This is not going to happen because there is not enough right of way.

The state does have the room to build a bridge over the LIS into Long Island.
This will detour traffic headed to NYC and LI from Fairfield County.

Let's stop the bickering....I-95 is only going to become more gridlocked because PEOPLE NEED A WAY TO GET FROM NEW ENGLAND TO NYC AND LI.
IT IS THAT SIMPLE.
This is long distance traffic, built it.

[juppiter]

Definitely it should be built. The people you're describing have such bad logic, because people that need to get from LI to, say, Boston right now have to go through NYC and then Connecticut to do so. If there were a bridge and/or tunnel further east that wouldn't be necessary and would actually get rid of that traffic.

[ss20ts]

Who's paying for your idea? Sure, in theory it sounds ok. But what about $$$$? As a Upstate NYer, I am NOT paying for yet another downstate project. Sorry I have no sympathy for folks down there.

No matter, there will be traffic. There's millions of people in that area. The highway could be 20 lanes wide and there STILL would be traffic. Traffic is a fact of life. Live with it.

[LINative]

Thruway, like I said on the Connecticut thread, instead of trying to divert NYC bound I-95 traffic and TRUCKS to Long Island (!), why doesn't Connecticut WIDEN 1-95 in their own state?

You also assume it makes sense for New York State to build and maintain an expensive bridge so its residents can spend their money in other states instead of their own. Why on Earth would Albany want to encourage tourism to Connecticut or Massachusetts instead of hard hit upstate? This is why I do not support a bridge or tunnel to Connecticut but only one between Westchester and Long Island.

If New York State can somehow find the money to build a bridge it should be built to make it easier for Long Islanders to visit the Hudson Valley, the Catskills, NYC etc (and all vice versa), NOT Connecticut casinos.

[rubygreta]

It will never happen in a million years. And the Tappan Zee Bridge has to be rebuilt first.

[rlrl]

to extend I 287 across LI sound at Rye/port Chester or I 80 across the Hudson to meet the Cross County Parkway in Yonkers and then out across the sound, since they are both interstates, wouldn't all states(NY, NJ) involved have a say to build or not to build?

In NJ they could make express lanes/bus lanes in fact for 45 miles or so because all the land is flat for the most part and there is a lot of space for a 12 laner.

But look at I 95 over the GWB, that's kind of divided between the lower and upper levels and that's a disaster, and to make a 12 laner from the Cr Bronx up to New Haven, would involve smashing more tenements similar to what they did in the 50's on the Cr Bronx, Bruckner, New England, and I 95 in Stamford and Bridgeport runs right next to office buildings, probably impossible to do

[grant516]

It's a dream of mine- believe me. There still is a cross-sound link tunnel project in the works (they have a website out there somewhere) but it requires a lot of money and they look upwards to $20 dollar tolls, which apparently people especially trucks, would be willing to pay to avoid NYC congestion.

I understand people's denial about it- however regretfully, progress needs to happen to avoid the crippling future of LI.

I feel however in won't happen in this lifetime, as a bridge or tunnel connecting Nassau to Westchester would circumvent the MTA's strangehold on LI via the Throggs Neck and Whitestone. With that income diverted they would face an economic crisis far worse than in the past.

Believe you me, those bridges make a pretty penny of income for the MTA and losing control over this is not something that will be in their best interest. Robert Moses faught with all his might to ensure that crossing... and even he couldn't make it.

[7 Wishes]

Originally Posted by LINative

Thruway, like I said on the Connecticut thread, instead of trying to divert NYC bound I-95 traffic and TRUCKS to Long Island (!), why doesn't Connecticut WIDEN 1-95 in their own state?

You also assume it makes sense for New York State to build and maintain an expensive bridge so its residents can spend their money in other states instead of their own. Why on Earth would Albany want to encourage tourism to Connecticut or Massachusetts instead of hard hit upstate? This is why I do not support a bridge or tunnel to Connecticut but only one between Westchester and Long Island.

If New York State can somehow find the money to build a bridge it should be built to make it easier for Long Islanders to visit the Hudson Valley, the Catskills, NYC etc (and all vice versa), NOT Connecticut casinos.

The solution to that would be to do it as the long-proposed Rye to Oyster Bay crossing by extending I-287 and not involve CT as all.

Personally, I'd rather see a tunnel than a bridge, wouldn't look so ugly on the Sound.

[juppiter]

Originally Posted by ss20ts

Who's paying for your idea? Sure, in theory it sounds ok. But what about $$$$? As a Upstate NYer, I am NOT paying for yet another downstate project. Sorry I have no sympathy for folks down there.

No matter, there will be traffic. There's millions of people in that area. The highway could be 20 lanes wide and there STILL would be traffic. Traffic is a fact of life. Live with it.

I say the state should take out a bond for it, forgo federal funding, and make it a toll bridge. Then the bridge authority will eventually pay the state back (like the Thruway) and continue charging tolls after that with no state funding at all. That way it will be the people who use the bridge are really the ones paying for it, and it doesn't affect upstate at all (I too am an upstater.)

[LINative]

I agree with both of the last two posts.

Right now however, I do think the priority right now should be building a new (and better) Tappan Zee Bridge. There is also a long term proposal to build a tunnel under New York Bay so the Long Island Railroad could be connected to New Jersey. This would take a huge amount of truck traffic off the Island and also lower some prices.