Long Island Sound link


The Long Island Sound link is a proposed bridge or tunnel that would link Long Island, New York, to Westchester County or Connecticut, across Long Island Sound east of the Throgs Neck Bridge. The project has been studied and debated for over eighty years. The most recent proposal is 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.

Background

Western Long Island is already connected directly via tunnels and bridges to Staten Island, to Manhattan and to the Bronx; however, these connections require passing through highly congested parts of the New York Metropolitan Area. People who wish to drive from Long Island to New York state's mainland or to any part of New England have no better option than to cross the Throgs Neck Bridge or the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge, which are located on the northwestern corner of Long Island connecting the New York City boroughs of Queens and the Bronx.
Ferry service between Connecticut and Long Island is available year-round; the drawback is that the services use slow boats. They take so long to cross, that a traveler going to western Connecticut can arrive at their destination sooner by driving through New York City, even if it means driving past the Port Jefferson ferry dock.
Private companies operate the automobile ferries between Port Jefferson—on north-central Long Island—and Bridgeport, Connecticut, and between Orient Point, much further east on Long Island's North Fork, and New London, Connecticut.
Arguments in support of a fixed crossing over Long Island Sound focus on increased motor vehicle accessibility to Long Island and reduced travel times between Long Island and the mainland. Additionally, proponents of a fixed crossing argue that Long Island's vulnerability to hurricanes necessitates a bridge across Long Island Sound to facilitate a mass evacuation from an approaching storm, as the two ferries and existing bridges in New York City lack the capacity to handle the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Long Island residents in advance of a hurricane. Opponents of such a crossing argue that the cost of such a bridge or tunnel would be large and it would be likely to have adverse environmental impacts. Finally, the bulk of the opposition to a fixed crossing over Long Island Sound is from Connecticut, where it is widely viewed that construction of such a crossing would come at great expense while providing little-to-no benefit for Connecticut residents. If built, a span across the widest portion of the Sound between New Haven and Shoreham would be approximately in length, possibly making it one of the longest bridges in the world.

Routes

Several 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 the Bronx-White Plains Expressway onto Long Island via the unbuilt Western Nassau Expressway in Nassau County.
  2. A bridge or tunnel connecting Rye in Westchester County with Oyster Bay on Long Island. This would be extend Interstate 287 onto Long Island via the existing Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway in Nassau County.
  3. An alternative 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 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 CR 110 to CT 8/25, and served as a direct replacement of the Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Ferry.
  6. A bridge connecting either New Haven 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, 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. This proposal pre-dates the automobile and was originally planned by the Long Island Rail Road in the 19th century.
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.

Plan history

1957 plan

In 1957, a plan for a bridge to Westchester County across Long Island Sound was first proposed by Charles H. Sells, a former commissioner for the New York State Department of Public Works. His proposal for the Oyster Bay – Rye Bridge, along with the eastern Orient Point – Watch Hill Bridge, were two proposed bridge routes off Long Island. Sells, however, suggested that the bridges would not be constructed until Long Island's traffic and commuting began to increase.
In seven years, Long Island underwent the transformation that Sells had expected, and the east–west arterials between Long Island and New York City, such as the Northern State Parkway and the Long Island Expressway, were congested with commuters. Motorists bound for New England or upstate regions of New York had to take the Throgs Neck Bridge or the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge, both bridges already reaching their designed capacities. Robert Moses, chairman of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, worked with the Department of Public Works to commission a $150,000 study in 1964 by the firm Madigan-Hyland to study the feasibility of a bridge across the sound.
Moses revealed the results of the study to the Nassau and Suffolk Regional Planning Board in February 1966. The Oyster Bay – Rye Bridge was proposed to complete the Interstate 287 beltway around the New York Metropolitan Area. This was to be done by constructing a cable-stayed suspension bridge from the Cross Westchester Expressway in Rye to the Seaford – Oyster Bay Expressway in Nassau County. The proposed bridge was to cost $150 million and had the support of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and many officials on Long Island.

Setbacks

On March 1, 1968, the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority merged with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Moses was demoted from chairman. He was given a lower position only because he would have a leading role in construction of the bridge. A number of excuses for delaying construction of the bridge were coming from the governor's offices. In 1969, the office said that the bond market, which would help finance the bridge, was too soft. The next year, there was a gubernatorial election for Rockefeller, and with the affected communities up in arms against him, he did not want to be put on the spot while running for re-election as governor.
In 1971, financial problems resurfaced on the proposed bridge and delayed it yet another year. The following year, the campaign for the Republican-controlled legislature in New York and governor were yet another reason to delay construction. With each delay, Moses kept assuring that the bridge would begin construction the next year.
In 1970, Governor Rockefeller ordered another feasibility study, costing about $160,000. That same year, new federal laws that dealt with the environment required a new Environmental Impact Statement for the highway, this time for the approaches as well.

Oyster Bay to Rye Bridge

With the mainline construction of the Seaford – Oyster Bay Expressway completed, Moses turned his eyes back onto an extension of the freeway and onto a bridge across the Long Island Sound into Westchester County. The idea, produced by Moses, was to extend the freeway northward past its current terminus, and along its previously proposed right-of-way past NY 106. Based on the Nassau County Department of Public Works Master Plan of 1959, the expressway would follow West Shore Road and Lundlum Avenue through Oyster Bay to Bayville, where it would connect to the new crossing.
In November 1972, Moses, the recently created New York State Department of Transportation, and the MTA submitted the environmental impact statement for the bridge. The statement specified that the project was to include the approaches to the bridge and be a project, as that was the distance from the interchange of I-287 and I-95 in Rye to the interchange of NY 135 and NY 25 in Syosset. The statement also explained how the highway would become an extended part of I-287. The bridge was to be constructed with four lanes, about above the sound at maximum clearances and on the minimum clearances. There would be of a center between the two towers along the cable span. These minimums reported by the two authorities and Moses were equal to those of the bridges crossing the East River in New York City. The main span would have a median divider separating the directional lanes, along with a girder box to allow for smooth passing.
In Westchester County, there were four proposed alternatives to the approach of the bridge. The first three proposals, designated W-1, W-2, and W-3, would use the undeveloped area around Playland Park in Rye for the approach. Proposals W-1 and W-2 would use Kirby Lane and Forest Avenue and be on a low-viaduct structure. Proposal W-3 would follow a narrow piece of land between Kirby Pond and the water between Mansuring Island. W-4 was to go through Port Chester Harbor and head across the Sound near North Mansuring Island. The approaches were to have retaining walls, side slopes, and screening which were to help blend in with the area and reduce the number of properties seized.
Across the Sound in Nassau County, three alternatives were considered for the bridge approach. The first, designated N-1, went from Oak Neck Point southward to an underpass of Bayville Avenue and into a deep cut of about near Mill Neck Creek. The cuts were to be built so they would be hidden from local properties. From there it would follow West Shore Road into Oyster Bay and utilize NY 106 to get onto the expressway extension. The second alternative, designated N-2, utilized most of N-1's route except for a cut through Mill Neck and onto a viaduct about long with varying clearances. After Mill Neck, it would follow the alignment of proposal N-1. N-3 was significantly different from the other two proposed and would use a longer bridge over the Sound, touching down in Ferry Beach rather than Bayville. The route would then pass to the east of the business district in Bayville and cross over the Mill Neck Creek on a viaduct with a clearance. Alternatives N-1 and N-2 were a bit more than long, and alternative N-3 was a little more than long.
On the Nassau side, full cloverleaf interchanges would have been built at NY 106 and NY 25A, and ramps to and from Bayville Avenue were proposed to be used for southbound traffic. This would allow local residents to use the approach route but not have to use local roads in the process. The total costs for the entire project were $200 million for the bridge itself and $52–72 million on the approaches, depending on which route was selected. Another $25 million would have gone toward the completion of NY 135 between NY 25 and NY 106.

Benefits

It was believed that the bridge would have positive effects on both traffic and the local economy, as I-95 would lose some of its congestion as traffic would be diverted onto the new bridge from Long Island rather than through New York City and on the East River bridges. This would also help the traffic flow from I-95 onto the Cross Westchester and raise the number of turning movements in the area. Similarly, the Hutchinson River Parkway would benefit from the diversion of traffic onto the bridge. The economic effects would be substantial, with a projected 11.8 million people using the bridge in the first year alone. By the fifth year, the proposed traffic volume was 16 million, and by its twentieth year in existence, 23 million people would use the bridge. The tolls, $1.75 for passenger cars and a significantly higher toll for commercial vehicles, would lead to a $21.5 million increase in revenue in the first year and an increase of $43 million by the twentieth year.
Other than monetary benefits, there were also to be economic benefits:

Opposition

Moses ran into a problem once the proposal was brought to the Federal Highway Administration. Opposition to the bridge was beginning to form on both sides of Long Island Sound. In addition, plans to turn the Oyster Bay area into a bird sanctuary and a protected park made working on the highway harder, as building on such protected places is forbidden by law. Faced with growing opposition, Governor Rockefeller canceled the plans for the bridge on June 20, 1973, nine years after the first proposal by Moses.

21st century

In January 2008, this idea was revived when developer Vincent Polimeni proposed building a privately financed, tolled tunnel between Oyster Bay on Long Island and Rye in 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 on Long Island to Interstate 287 in Westchester County. It would cost between $12 and $16 billion and would not be completed until at least 2025. The proposed tunnel would be long, making it the world's longest highway tunnel, longer than the Lærdal Tunnel in Norway. A hearing on this proposal was held in Syosset on January 24, 2008.
During his second term, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo also proposed a tunnel connecting NY 135 to Rye. This is also a highway in two tubes and a third tube for maintenance. After a polarizing debate, the NYSDOT released a statement saying the tunnel would not be moving forward at this time.

List of proposals

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.
Proposals for the Sound link are listed below from west to east.
Southern pointNorthern pointLengthBridge or tunnelEstimated costYear proposed
Sands PointNew RochelleBridge$132 million1971
Glen CoveRyeBridge$150 million1971
Oyster BayRyeBridge$168 million1971
Oyster BayRyeTunnel2001
Oyster BayRyeTunnel$8 to $10 billion2007
NorthportNorwalkBridgeBefore 1971
SyossetNoroton-NorwalkTunnel2001
Port JeffersonBridgeportBridge$219 million
$368 million		1965
1968
ShorehamNew HavenBridge$565 million
$1.4 billion		1971
1979
Wading RiverEast HavenBridge1979
RiverheadGuilfordBridge$510 million
$720 million		1971
1979
East MarionOld SaybrookBridge$206 million
$390 million
$640 million		1965
1971
1979
Orient PointEast LymeTunnel1966
Orient PointWatch HillBridge$392 million
$639 million		1965
1971
Orient PointGroton and Watch HillBridge$260 million1963