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September 04, 2003

TIP 2005: transport plan

A New Road Map For Transportation On LI

By Joie Tyrrell, Staff Writer

2003 August 30, 7:53 PM EDT

Video cameras to monitor traffic and alert authorities to disabled vehicles along
Old Country Road.

Construction of 37 more miles of bikeways and pedestrian paths on Long Island.

Resurrection of a commuter ferry from Glen Cove.

A third track on the main line of the Long Island Rail Road and a host of road
improvements in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

These are just some of the projects big and small identified in the 2004-2006
New York Metropolitan Area Transportation Improvement Plan for Long Island, a
list submitted to the federal government from local agencies in their quest for
transportation dollars. The plan, known as TIP, is a multiyear program to
prioritize transportation projects.

It is prepared by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, the planning
organization for the region, and must be approved by both county executives,
the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the state Department of
Transportation. Once approved locally, the plan goes before the regional group,
which includes the city and the mid-Hudson Valley, and then to the state before it
is forwarded to the federal government.

"It is the most important transportation planning document there is," said Mitch
Pally, vice president for government affairs for the Long Island Association, the
region's largest business group.

The U.S. Department of Transportation will not approve the use of federal funds
unless the project is identified in the plan. Past projects include construction of
the HOV lane on the Long Island Expressway and purchase of new M-7 rail cars
for the LIRR. Inclusion, however, does not guarantee funding.

In the 2004-2006 plan, more than $5.5 billion is earmarked for Long Island.

The plan was scheduled for a vote earlier this month, but none was taken
because Suffolk officials and local planners had reservations about two projects:
Route 347 and a rest stop at Exit 51 of the Long Island Expressway.

Suffolk County Executive Robert Gaffney initially declined to sign off on the plan,
county officials said, because expansion plans for Route 347 were not made
enough of a priority. The state DOT's plan for Route 347 calls for major
improvements to ease traffic from the Northern State Parkway through Route
25A in Mount Sinai, including building an additional lane.

"Route 347 has become the major east-west transportation corridor
on the North Shore of Suffolk County, where we have seen tremendous growth
in population and business," Pally said. "We have talked about expanding Route
347 for the last three years, and we are still talking and we are not doing anything."

Gaffney also balked at the plan because construction of a visitor information
center at Exit 51 off the LIE was not slated until 2007.

"The county was concerned about the schedule for both of them," said DOT
spokeswoman Eileen Peters. "We went over what was involved ... and we made
a firm commitment to them that we would look at the project schedule and
accelerate the schedules wherever it was convenient."

Bob Shinnick, director of transportation operations for Suffolk County, said the
county executive is expected to approve the plan. Ballots have recently been
mailed.

"It's our feeling as a county that the state has indicated a good enough
willingness to advance those projects," Shinnick said.

Other highlights of the 2004-2006 plan are several major bridge projects,
including replacement of the Roslyn viaduct and rehabilitation of the northbound
bridge on the Robert Moses Causeway over the Great South Bay. If approved,
the INFORM overhead motorist alert system will be expanded to include the
Meadowbrook State Parkway.

The plan also includes provisions for mass transit, emphasizing the purchase of
new equipment for Suffolk Transit and Long Island Bus. Suffolk Transit recently
kicked off an advertising campaign to increase its 4.5 million bus ridership by 3
to 5 percent.

"[The plan] does show a commitment for public transportation," said Lisa Tyson,
director of the Long Island Progressive Coalition, a nonprofit advocacy group in
Massapequa. " ... We would want more money going into public transportation."

For the LIRR, the plan calls for modernizing the signal system, investing in the
railroad's rolling stock and funding for an environmental impact statement as well
as a preliminary design for a third track on the main line between Bellerose
and Hicksville.

"That is the most important mass transit project on Long Island," Pally said of the
LIRR plans. "It will do more to improve the mass transit system than anything
else.

"It's only a first step but a very important first step."

Copyright © 2003,

Newsday, Inc.

Posted by dc at September 4, 2003 09:52 PM

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