A regional freight transportation plan in effect for the past five years has a provision tucked inside that calls for the “enhancement” of ferry services out of Orient that would boost truck traffic on local roads by an estimated 3,000 more trucks each year.
But nobody knew about it — not Southold Supervisor Scott Russell, or Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter, not even Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, who sits as co-chair of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council which adopted the plan in 2010.
The obscure provision is a paragraph in a voluminous, multipart planning document prepared five years ago by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, addressing the movement of freight throughout the NYC metro region through 2030. It went unnoticed until earlier this month, when an Orient resident discovered it in the plan’s 2015 update documents.
The Cross Sound Enhancement Project is aimed at expanding truck capacity on the Orient-New London ferry line so that tractor trailers between the NYC metro region and New England could take the ferry and use Long Island roads — avoiding the “congested” Interstate 95, which travels through Connecticut to the boroughs of NYC. The project was proposed and sponsored by the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
The plan says it will divert 3,000 tractor-trailers off I-95 — about 12 trucks per day. But it also means diverting the truck traffic onto Route 25 on the North Fork. That doesn’t sit well with local residents or officials.
Truck traffic on Sound Avenue — often used an alternate to Route 25by east-west tractor-trailer traffic — is already taking its toll on the road’s pavement.
“Our local roads just aren’t built to handle that weight,” Riverhead Highway Superintendent George Woodson said this morning. Major highways like I-95 are built to different specifications to withstand travel by 18-wheelers.
Woodson said he and Councilwoman Jodi Giglio have been discussing the possibility of imposing an eight-ton weight limit on Sound Avenue in light of the expansion plans of United Riverhead Terminal in Northville.
Giglio could not be reached for comment this afternoon.
If the regional freight plan were to become reality, he said the weight limit would be essential. “Unless they plan to repave Sound Avenue for the town,” Woodson said.
Not happening, according to Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell. The plan does not require the state to provide any funds for infrastructure improvement.
“This idea is dead on arrival,” Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter said today when informed of the freight plan by a reporter.
“The town of Riverhead actually has the power to stop this and we will use that power accordingly,” Walter said. “We could and we would put weight limits on Sound Avenue.”
Walter said Giglio has proposed the idea, which he was not comfortable with because there are trucks supporting the local agricultural industry that would be affected.
“If they do this, I would support weight limits, though,” Walter said.
Banned from Sound Avenue, trucks would have to travel Route 25 to Route 58, or take Main Street. “I don’t think they’d want to do that to get to 495,” Walter said.
The supervisor, who is a member of the Long Island Regional Planning Council, said he could not understand how a proposal like this could be made part of a plan adopted by an agency of the state without a body like the Long Island Regional Planning Council being made aware of it.
“That’s outrageous,” he said.
Southold Town officials were told of the plan by Orient residents. Russell has already sent a letter of opposition to the state council
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, who as county executive sits as a member of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council and is even its current co-chair, also knew nothing about it, Legis. Al Krupski said today at a meeting of an Orient civic group. Bellone also sent a letter of opposition to the NYMTC staff member coordinating public review of the plan. He said in the letter he will vote against the plan unless the ferry project is removed.
The project was selected by the U.S Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration as part of the “America’s Marine Highways Funding Program.”
“One of many public benefits offered by this project is improved livability through reduction of traffic in highly congested urban centers,” according to the Maritime Administration. “Other benefits include emissions reductions, energy savings and land-side transportation infrastructure maintenance savings,” the Maritime Administration says on its website.
Rep. Lee Zeldin, a member of the House transportation committee and vice-chair of its infrastructure subcommittee, pledged in a statement to work hard to fight “this scheme,” which he deemed “ill-advised.”
An overview of the proposed freight plan will be presented at two public meetings on Wednesday, March 18, at 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., at the NYMTC offices at 25 Beaver Street, Suite 201, N.Y., N.Y. 10004. The agency asks people who wish to attend to “RSVP” by calling 212-383-7200 or writing to Shawanna.Brown@dot.ny.gov.
Interested persons may attend online webinars on Wednesday, March 18 at 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Register for the 3 p.m. session here.
Register for the 6:30 session here.
Written comments are due in writing by 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31 and may be mailed to:
New York Metropolitan Transportation Council
Attn: Howie Mann
Nassau/Suffolk Transportation Coordinating Committee
Room 6A19
250 Veterans Memorial Highway
Hauppauge, NY 11788
Comments may also be sent by email to:
howard.mann@dot.ny.gov
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