[GoHuskies]

The shipping ports that receive heavy trucks traffic for containers are in Elizabeth and other parts of NJ. What heavy industry adds truck traffic between CT & LI??????

For personal or tourist travel CT-LI connection is already underway with the east side access project: http://web.mta.info/capital/esa_alt.html.

This extension will add GCT as a destination for many LIR trains which gives easy transfer access to MNR.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheHorizon

lol Sure they can be "heard", but in a democracy majority rules so 1500 people from old lyme can't override millions who will use it!

Ferries are outrageously priced. Many people just choose to drive the long way and not take the ferry. If you're driving outside of rush hour, it takes about the same time from central LI taking the port Washington ferry to BPT and it costs nearly 110 to 150 bucks roundtrip with a vehicle. And a vehicle is usually necessary unless you're visiting family that lives right near the ferry. A lot of cars on those ferries. A lot of people heading to boston/providence/worcester/hartford ect.

A bridge between LI and CT makes sense. Port washington to Bridgeport or new haven would be perfect. It would divert a lot of traffic and ease congestion in the entire metro area of both long island/queens area and fairfield 95 corridor in CT. Also, it's not just commuters/travelers. It's movement of goods by truck. People don't seem to remember that. That would divert trucks going towards points east and ease congestion and needless wear and tear on roads. Trucks would be driving less mileage on roads. That bridge would cut mileage down. This Means cheaper shipping routes. Everything comes by truck. The bridge would divert all kinds of traffic away from the nyc gridlock trying to get over the whitestone/throgs neck and then up the congested 95 corridor. It would have widespread benefit for transport in the entire region

It would also give nice long island "open ocean" beach access to fairfield/new haven county residents. It would be great.

It kind of even goes beyond movement of goods and better access to Long Island. If Long Island ever had to be evacuated for some reason, the current roads, bridges and ferries are insufficient to handle the load. Fortunately this has never had to happen but you just never know. Jay

[BeyondtheHorizon]

Originally Posted by GoHuskies

The shipping ports that receive heavy trucks traffic for containers are in Elizabeth and other parts of NJ. What heavy industry adds truck traffic between CT & LI??????

For personal or tourist travel CT-LI connection is already underway with the east side access project: http://web.mta.info/capital/esa_alt.html.

This extension will add GCT as a destination for many LIR trains which gives easy transfer access to MNR.

Routes go every which way you can imagine. Yes trucks go from long island to boston/montreal/CT/canada and everywhere in between. The trucking routes are ubiquitous throughout the entire country. Of course there's more trucks crossing from the gwb side. Do you notice a lot of trucks on the LIE? Many trucks don't pick up their goods at sea shipping ports. There's also jfk and all the industry out there. By adding another bridge you cut down on total traffic.

[BeyondtheHorizon]

Originally Posted by JayCT

It kind of even goes beyond movement of goods and better access to Long Island. If Long Island ever had to be evacuated for some reason, the current roads, bridges and ferries are insufficient to handle the load. Fortunately this has never had to happen but you just never know. Jay

If I'm not mistaken isn't that one of the reasons that the interstate system was built in the first place? Yes if anything ever happened on LI they'd be completely stuck.

[GoHuskies]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheHorizon

If I'm not mistaken isn't that one of the reasons that the interstate system was built in the first place? Yes if anything ever happened on LI they'd be completely stuck.

By this logic we need a bridge from the southern tip of FL to Mexico

Better get on with connecting Alaska to Russia in case of an emergency because it has like one highway out of there! Besides Russia can be seen from Alaska so it can't be that far away

[BeyondtheHorizon]

Originally Posted by GoHuskies

By this logic we need a bridge from the southern tip of FL to Mexico

Better get on with connecting Alaska to Russia in case of an emergency because it has like one highway out of there! Besides Russia can be seen from Alaska so it can't be that far away

lol...Not a fair comparison.

Just a slight difference there. Alaska is huge and you can move around and has almost no population in areas that would connect it to Russia. True wilderness in many places with no road access in or out. Tiny Inuit settlements.

And Florida to Mexico is around 500 miles. Northern tip of north shore long island to CT is anywhere from a few miles to around 10 miles depending where it's put.

[MrGompers]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheHorizon

Routes go every which way you can imagine. Yes trucks go from long island to boston/montreal/CT/canada and everywhere in between. The trucking routes are ubiquitous throughout the entire country. Of course there's more trucks crossing from the gwb side. Do you notice a lot of trucks on the LIE? Many trucks don't pick up their goods at sea shipping ports. There's also jfk and all the industry out there. By adding another bridge you cut down on total traffic.

Trucks deliver a lot of goods into Long Island, but they turn around and leave empty. There isn't much nowadays being produced on Long Island that needs to be transported off the island. Only thing I can really think of would be wine. And how much wine can Long Island possibly produce ? And how many trucks can they fill ?

This is one reason among many that truckers really hate going to Long Island.

[East of the River]

There aren't a ton of exports for LI but some. I know we buy a bunch of electrical equipment at work from a factory in Long island. A quick search of the web shows electrical equipment manufacturing is a big employer on the island at 2,200 people. And oddly Chemical manufacturing is huge with 10,000 jobs. So there are quite a few full trucks coming off, but yes no where near as many that go on.

[East of the River]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheHorizon

lol Sure they can be "heard", but in a democracy majority rules so 1500 people from old lyme can't override millions who will use it!

Ferries are outrageously priced. Many people just choose to drive the long way and not take the ferry. If you're driving outside of rush hour, it takes about the same time from central LI taking the port Washington ferry to BPT and it costs nearly 110 to 150 bucks roundtrip with a vehicle. And a vehicle is usually necessary unless you're visiting family that lives right near the ferry. A lot of cars on those ferries. A lot of people heading to boston/providence/worcester/hartford ect.

A bridge between LI and CT makes sense. Port washington to Bridgeport or new haven would be perfect. It would divert a lot of traffic and ease congestion in the entire metro area of both long island/queens area and fairfield 95 corridor in CT. Also, it's not just commuters/travelers. It's movement of goods by truck. People don't seem to remember that. That would divert trucks going towards points east and ease congestion and needless wear and tear on roads. Trucks would be driving less mileage on roads. That bridge would cut mileage down. This Means cheaper shipping routes. Everything comes by truck. The bridge would divert all kinds of traffic away from the nyc gridlock trying to get over the whitestone/throgs neck and then up the congested 95 corridor. It would have widespread benefit for transport in the entire region

It would also give nice long island "open ocean" beach access to fairfield/new haven county residents. It would be great.

A link to Long island would be nice but I'm not sure it makes as much sense as other projects. It would help a lot with tourism to and from Long Island and CT but not much other then that I would imagine.

[East of the River]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheHorizon

Small special interest groups shouldn't be able to derail what's basically a national type of project. No matter where you put the tracks, people will complain. Nothing could ever be built if you allow a few people to sign a petition and shut down a major project like that. This isn't a local zoning issue. It's a massive project that is long overdue.

As I recall there are a number of laws regarding railroads that make it extremely difficult for NIMBY types to stop railroad building unless they can pull a valid federal environmental or historical reason (not state).

I think the option up thru Storrs is better and would offer better connections in the region but it would involve a lot of building.