At the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council’s annual meeting last week, principal members laid out their visions for growth over the next few decades. Principals, or their representatives, from Nassau, Westchester, Rockland, and New York City spoke in favor of smart growth and transit investment.
And then there was Suffolk.
“We want development, and we need more roads to support that development,” Suffolk County Deputy Executive Jim Morgo said. “Roadway expansion is absolutely necessary.”
Apparently, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy hasn’t learned much from his more built up NYMTC counterparts, Nassau and Westchester. Westchester County Executive Spano and Nassau County Executive Commissioner of Planning Patricia Bourne called for focusing development around existing or future transit hubs, and explained that they couldn’t fit any more roads into their dense, suburban communities. “Forty percent of Westchester is already built-up,” Spano said. “The last thing we need is more roads and sprawl.”
Indeed, Suffolk County has an incredible amount of growth planned, the centerpiece of which is the four square mile Sagtikos Redevelopment Zone, the site of the controversial Heartland project being pushed forward by developer Jerry Wolkoff. In total, this area is slated for 3.8 million square feet of commercial space, 2.1 million square feet of retail (the latter is equivalent to about 10 Super Wal-Marts), and 9,000 apartments. The area also includes the Tanger Outlet Center (805,000 square feet of retail) and Deer Park Shopping Center (115,000 square feet of retail), and another 407,000 square feet of retail to the north of the LIE. While Heartland is intended to be mixed use and walkable, the rest presumably is not, and neither is development along the Route 110 corridor, another planned growth area. (Interestingly, the Brentwood community is more up in arms about the proposed NYS DOT truck to rail intermodal facility [LI TRIM], also in the Sagtikos Zone, than to the proposed retail development.)
Suffolk’s antiquated development model was especially striking compared to written and public statements by NYC principals, DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden, which connected NYC’s need for livability with efforts to stem climate change and reduce driving. “City dwellers use less energy per person than people in any other type of settlement,” NYC wrote in the 2008 NYMTC Annual Report, adding that to become more attractive to residents NYC needs “better public space, safer sidewalks and streets, an excellent bicycle network and more reliable and efficient mass transit.”
Given the existing sprawl-fueled congestion on Long Island, it’s rather shocking that County Executive Levy would call for more of the same, especially since communities throughout the Island are calling for a change to old-fashioned road-focused transportation planning. NYMTC’s 2008 Annual Report spells out the NYMTC principals’ visions in more detail and is available here.
What is TSTC’s position on extending grade separated, electrified double track further into Suffolk County on LIRR’s various lines and increasing the LIRR fleet size as an antidote to ‘car-first’ development?
What is TSTC’s position on Modern Roundabouts?
The service levels on LIRR Montauk Line make it almost impossible to travel back & forth to the Hamptons by train.
I strongly feel that the county is not looking at viable alternatives, such as building more bike and pedestrian paths in the Sagtikos corridor that could allow people to safely combine short trips to the office or stores with much needed recreation and exercise. A walkable community is being planned, why not make the entire AREA walkable and bikeable? Many potential routes exist but need to be studied further by planners.
Additionally, there is great potential to build a light rail system by reviving the Pilgrim rail spur and expanding it to reach not only Pilgrim but the Suffolk Community Campus, the Hauppauge Industrial park, and the NYS and County offices in Hauppauge. This system could initially feed into the LIRR main line at the Deer Park Station and be expanded later to other destinations. We need to get past the one car one driver mentality that currently plagues the region.
Shocking that our esteemed County Executive (who ran unopposed) is for development and more roads? Shocking that Suffolk County doesn’t get it and doesn’t seem to want to move out of the stone age? Shocking that if we don’t we will self-destruct? Nah! Come on! Our elected officials and many Suffolk County residents will be driving in one of their three SUV’s on all this new concrete, just a few blocks to get a container of milk, talking on cell phones the entire time, complaining about traffic and wondering why they are so miserable and so broke. How about getting out of the car and walking to the store? How about pressuring our elected officials and our esteemed and honorable Steve Levy to wake up and face the fact that we are way behind he eight ball in terms of doing something real and tangible to ease traffic congestion (more and wider roads will NOT do it, boys) and to get people walking and biking places (and safely so). Public transportation? Doesn’t exist in Suffolk County! Bus service ends at 7pm and there are NO buses on Sunday. I know, I live on Long and I don’t drive. Take it from me. We do NOT need more development. We do NOT need more roads or wider roads. We need ways for people to get around WITHOUT cars and we need sidewalks that actually transport people somewhere and do not suddenly end! We need safer crosswalks. We need ideas that actually appear to come out of the 21st century and not the 1950s. And lastly, when was there a vote on “we want development in Suffolk County”. I must have missed that vote because I don’t remember any of our elected officials or planners asking the community if they wanted development or not. Most of the time it is forced down our throats. Shocking? Yes, it is if you are reasonable, thinking person. Surprising? From this county executive, not at all.
I guess that because you can’t get the same bargains at an intermodal truck rail facility that you can at an outlet center leads people to oppose the one and support the other. Maybe we could get someone to push the idea of approval of the shopping centers can only be done if the intermodal facility is approved so that the shopping centers don’t net add truck traffic.
If you install an intermodal in one of the already most congested areas of LI, who benefits? Most truckers I know would avoid it. What we need is an intermodal in each of the major towns of LI. Share the burden, and you might see some real benefits, such as getting the rail freight much closer to the final destinations. Adapt these smaller intermodals for local needs as the consumer needs change. Revive old rail spurs and run smaller trucks to close-in destinations. The idea of a one size fits all multi-purpose Intermodal is already obsolete.
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