Leaders Rally For Sunrise Highway Expansion

Long Island has become the “capital of congestion,” officials and transportation advocates charged Monday as they called on Albany to return more of the billions motorists pay in fuel taxes, registration fees and other revenues to upgrade the region’s overburdened roads.

At the center of their argument is a long-sought expansion of Sunrise Highway, where worsening traffic has turned the roadway into a daily bottleneck for motorists and emergency responders. State Sen. Dean Murray and Assemblyman Joseph DeStefano are leading a push to widen the highway from two to three lanes in both directions between Exit 53 at Route 112 and Exit 59 at Wading River Road.

“We’re sick and tired of seeing the money going to the city,” Murray said. “Billions of aid to NYC — we’d like to see some of that money.” He warned congestion will only worsen with NYU Langone Health’s $650 million expansion of its East Patchogue hospital with a 270,000-square-foot inpatient pavilion.

Assemblyman Joe DeStefano said Long Islanders “pay billions in state and federal taxes” and deserve their fair share of transportation funding. “For far too long, we have been forced to take a back seat to New York City’s transportation needs.”

“Do we get our fair share of the transportation funding? Absolutely not,” said Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, who participated in a Patchogue press conference on the subject. “We get shortchanged in every way.”

Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico echoed the complaint. “We send an enormous amount of money to Albany. They have the money. We should not have to stand out here like beggars.”

Marc Herbst, executive director of the Long Island Contractors’ Association, called Long Island “the capital of congestion,” adding, “We have the capacity to expand Sunrise Highway. They planned this, it’s on the map and they know it needs to be addressed. We just need the money.”

Suffolk Legislator Dominick Thorne said congestion is delaying ambulances reaching trauma centers and could also impede evacuations during hurricanes. “We just can’t have people and emergency vehicles sitting in traffic.”

Also behind the highway push are Suffolk Legislature Presiding Officer Anthony Piccirillo, Legislator Jim Mazzarella, Brookhaven Council members Neil Foley and Karen Dunne-Kesnig, South Country Ambulance Chief Greg Miglino Jr., North Patchogue Fire Department Deputy Chief Dan Glen, Operating Engineers Local 138 Business Manager John Duffy and other first responders, labor representatives and construction industry officials.