By Vincent and Michael Polimeni
It began as a big idea. Could the crucial missing link in the region’s transportation system finally be built by creating a tunnel that would run some 18 miles beneath the Long Island Sound and funded without a dime of taxpayers’ money? Technically, this would be a no-brainer as the needed tunneling technology has been employed in other parts of the world. The real issue would be political leadership and the ability to envision what will happen to our roads if nothing is done to address the coming gridlock crisis.
The “Sound Link” plan calls for the creation of a tunnel that goes underground at the existing northern terminus of the Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway on Long Island and reappears in Rye, significantly reducing vehicular air emissions and energy consumption in the region, greatly prolonging the life span of the Whitestone and Throgs Neck bridges, adding strategic depth to emergency response options on Long Island and in Westchester County, and creating thousands of jobs at a time of historic economic pain.
The project’s $10 billion cost would be privately funded with investors getting a return on investment from those who would pay to use the artery. New York State Governor David Paterson has requested we spend $1.2 million of our own money to underwrite an in-depth traffic and environmental study. This study will allow us to approach a core, fundamental question: Can a tunnel help our region’s quality of life? If it is found to harm the region, the proposal will be dead-filed as a provocative concept. If it is found that it aids the region, then we move on to the next chapter of deciding its future.
The tunnel is projected to enable as many as 80,000 vehicles per day to bypass congested roads in Westchester, the Bronx and Queens. High speed buses will directly link to LIRR and Metro North stations, adding additional access to mass transportation. Digging more than 100 feet under the Sound, tunnel-boring machines would be located at either end of the tunnel to ensure completion within a five- to six-year time frame.
We are challenging the region to consider a very big idea and one whose time we believe has arrived. We are proposing that 21st century technology be employed to create solutions to environmental and transportation issues that are guaranteed to grow if left unaddressed. Polimeni International has already invested hundreds of thousands of dollars to document whether a tunnel beneath the Long Island Sound should be considered as a strategic response to strategic problems. Now, we are taking the next step and putting our money where our concepts are because, at a time of historic economic turmoil, we fervently believe in the future of the New York metropolitan region.