He also called for the development of a major truck-train depot at the old Pilgrim State Hospital site in Brentwood and expanded ferry service using Long Island Sound. He included a cargo service, further electrification of the Long Island Rail Road and extension of the Long Island Expressway HOV lane and improvement of other roadways.
Romaine proposed construction of a monorail between the Ronkonkoma Station of the Long Island Railroad to Islip Mac-Arthur Airport. "This would give us an efficient plane-to-the-train system that would reduce the hit-and-miss automobile and taxi service now in place," he said.
Romaine said these projects can be paid for largely by state funds, "once the imbalance be-tween what Suffolk County pays to the state for transportation needs and what it gets in return is remedied. According to a county study, the Metropolitan Transpor-tation Authority collects in excess of $150 million annually from Suffolk, which receives $8 million in return," he said.
"With the price of gasoline reaching all-time highs, it is time to move forward with the ideas put forward in the state-sponsored Long Island Transportation Plan 2000. It has been allowed to gather dust on government shelves as a draft proposal for far too long," Romaine said. "It piggybacks on the similarly dusty Long Island Bus Study, in calling for the dramatic expansion of our bus system, with new high-speed routes, more frequent stops and extended hours of service. It also would employ a new type of vehicle called a Rapid Commute Vehicle and require dedicated road lanes to move people quickly in all directions. It is time we stop studying and start doing."
He also said he would work with employers to utilize federal and state incentives to get employees into rapid transit or to work at staggered intervals. "We have to reduce our dependency on automobiles or we will strangle on them," Romaine said.
The GOP candidate said he would press the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to speed up its plans for extended electrification on the Port Jefferson line of the Long Island Rail Road. "Again, government is slow to act. The MTA has tied electrification to the location of a train storage yard somewhere between Huntington and Smithtown.
Electrification should go forward independently because of the time the siting project will take. The Long Island Railroad won't have a new yard operational until 2011, according to its own estimates, " Romaine said. "Electrification is needed now, not only along the North Shore line but from Ronkonkoma to Yaphank as well. Temporary train storage solutions must be found," he added.
Romaine also suggested that the MTA consider a Maglev train for high-speed access to New York City along a proposed third track on the Long Island Railroad main line between Hicksville and Bellerose in Queens. These trains rely on magnetism to lift them off the ground, thus eliminating much friction and increasing speed potential. "We have to think out of the box and move off the drawing boards to resolve our transportation problems, Romaine said.
In addition, the candidate also said he would work to improve parking at the railroad's stations. "Lack of parking is a constant commuter complaint, and while we want to get commuters into rapid transit, the growth in our population will require that government still offer adequate parking as a draw for using the railroad," Romaine said.
As part of his transportation plan, Romaine went on to call for "fast tracking" of a state proposal to create a rail-truck hub on the grounds of the old Pilgrim State Psychiatric Hospital in Brentwood. "Such a hub would reduce the number of trucks that clog and damage our roads and place the workload where it works best-on the trains," he said.
The Romaine plan also calls for more waterborne cargo and passenger travel. He pointed to the Long Island Sound Waterborne Transportation Plan, a federally funded project that is supposed to recommend points along the shoreline for more streamlined ferry service. "Once the committee studying expanded ferry service comes in with its proposals, I would move aggressively to implement them. Water travel is a basic means for delivering goods and people. It is essential that Suffolk, being part of an island, utilize that resource to its fullest," Romaine said.
Turning to highways, the candidate said the state should complete the HOV lane on the Long Island Expressway between Exits 49 and 30. This lane would be a vital avenue for both multi-passenger automobiles and high-tech Rapid Transit Vehicles. The state also should give high priority to improving Route 347; the South Service Road of Sunrise Highway from William Floyd Parkway to Wading River Road and the North Service Road of the Sunrise from Barnes Road to Wading River Road. The county should act similarly to improve County Road 39 in Southampton to alleviate congestion.
He also called for a feasibility study of a bridge-tunnel between Long Island and Westchester County or Connecticut. " For years, advocates such as Robert Moses have envisioned such a crossing. In view of the added economic and evacuation advantages, it is time we gave this issue a second look," Romaine said.