United call to expand Sunrise, exits 53 to 59

On Wednesday, Sept. 15, State Sen. Dean Murray held a press conference in the ShopRite parking lot in Patchogue, right next to the Sunrise Highway westbound service road, to announce the joint of efforts of different levels of government to expand Sunrise Highway between exits 53 (Wading River Road) to 59 (Route 112).

Chief among the reasons were the bottleneck at the Oakdale Merge, the sharp increase in residents (i.e., more cars) in Suffolk County, and better access to NYU Langone-Suffolk for emergency services.

The increase in residents is due in large part to the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought new residents to Long Island, particularly Eastern Long Island

“As the region continues to grow, commuters, residents, businesses, and emergency responders are facing increased congestion and longer travel times,” said Murray in a follow-up statement to the press conference.

“This is about safety; this is about easing the bottleneck and the congestion,” stated Murray.

He described the traffic patterns on summertime Friday afternoons and nights in years’ past as the expected times of heavy traffic on Sunrise Highway.

“It used to be in the summertime when you’d see everything backed up. No longer. It’s 365, it’s seven days a week. It is all the time, in the morning coming westbound, evening eastbound, bottlenecked to the point where I’ve noticed a lot of the traffic is pushed off on Montauk Highway,” said Murray.

Echoing his thoughts was New York State assemblyman, Joe DeStefano. “Widening Sunrise Highway is the kind of infrastructure investment motorists need. We pay billions in state and federal taxes, and we should receive our fair share of transportation funding in return… For far too long, we have been forced to take a backseat to New York City’s transportation needs. No more.”

Suffolk County executive Ed Romaine expressed his support of the project and of Murray and DeStefano’s part in securing funds from Albany.

“Well, Dean and Joe are going to carry the fight to Albany as we need. We need people to fight to make sure we get our fair share. Do we get our fair share? Absolutely not! Suffolk County is short-changed in so many ways,” said Romaine.

 Romaine spoke about New York City, referring to it as a “great city,” and what he perceived as unfairness in the allocation of funds, namely, “The Governor gave the mayor $4 billion to balance his budget. Do you know what she gave Suffolk? Zero.”

In addition, Romaine was critical of the Governor’s $1.5 billion funding for childcare centers in New York City when Suffolk County has similar problems of finding affordable childcare.

“Where it really shows, in our everyday life, when you come here [motioning to Sunrise Highway] about 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., 7 p.m., you’ll see these three lanes jam up and slim down to two,” said Romaine. 

Ambulances and other emergency services carrying patients in critical need to NYU Langone-Suffolk (whose access exits are within the proposed expansion) are also severely affected by  current traffic patterns.

Greg Miglino Jr., the chief of South Country Ambulance, spoke of the lack of capacity of Sunrise Highway to serve the volume of vehicles that must utilize the roads.

“This lack of capability often leads to backups in the area extending miles at times, often impacting on the safe navigation of emergency vehicles, more specifically ambulances trying to get the sick and injured to the hospital. The widening of the roadway would be a positive step in addressing some of the issues that make the safe navigation of emergency vehicles on Sunrise Highway in this area so dangerous,” said Miglino.

Suffolk County Legis. Dominick Thorne, who is himself part of the emergency services in his district, said, “Traffic buildup at the NYU Langone Hospital exit currently delays ambulance access, and the high concentration of motor vehicles in the area raises additional environmental concerns. Residents and patients alike have expressed concerns about carbon emissions and air quality. They are also worried about their safety along these roads.”

 Leaders of the construction industry, both companies and workers, were in agreement that the plan to expand Sunrise Highway between exits 53 to 59 would result in major improvements to quality of life and union jobs.

Marc Herbst, executive director of the Long Island Contractors’ Association, praised the project as it would strengthen the infrastructure by adapting to the increased population. He pointed out that Sunrise Highway, unlike other transportation expansion projects, would not need to commandeer land to expand.

Herbst said that the New York State Department of Transportation had already conducted a study on the 11-and-half-mile corridor of Sunrise and were aware of the issues facing that stretch.

“Sunrise Highway is a critical artery for Long Island, but our infrastructure has not kept pace with the growth and changing needs of the communities it serves. Extending the three-lane portion of the highway to Wading River Road is a common-sense investment that will improve safety, ease congestion, strengthen access for emergency responders, and better connect residents and businesses across Suffolk County,” said Herbst.“This critical investment will improve safety, reduce congestion, and create good-paying union jobs for Long Island’s hardworking men and women,” said John Duffy, business manager of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 138.

Murray said that investing in infrastructure was paramount to the workforce and Suffolk County’s future.

“Eastern Long Island has changed dramatically over the past several years, and our infrastructure needs to keep pace with that growth. Sunrise Highway is a critical artery for our residents, workers, businesses, and first responders,” said Murray.