Tunnel from Westchester to Long Island? Study Needed: Cuomo

Gov. Andrew Cuomo intends to spend about $5 million to study the feasibility of tunnel under Long Island Sound to connect the highly trafficked peninsula to either Westchester County, the Bronx or Connecticut, he announced Tuesday.

Such a tunnel could help improve commuting by allowing drivers to bypass traveling to Manhattan and working their way around to the other side.

“I want to do a really thorough feasibility study,” Cuomo told the audience at a Long Island Association event, as reported by The Journal News. “I think we can build a tunnel from Long Island to either the Bronx, Westchester or Connecticut. It will shave hours and hours from a commutation standpoint.”

The funding for the study would need approval from state legislature. Additionally, Cuomo did not attach any dollar amount to the cost of a proposed tunnel, but the replacement Tappan Zee Bridge is expected to cost about $4 billion.

And even though the notion of a tunnel is not new, Cuomo said the time has come for bold action by the state.

“Would you say that FDR was a pipe dream? Would you say Robert Moses was a pipe dream? Was the Verrazano (bridge) a pipe dream? Was the George Washington (Bridge) a pipe dream,” said Cuomo, according to The Journal News. “Was the (Long Island Expressway) a pipe dream? Was the Empire State Building a pipe dream? Was the Freedom Tower a pipe dream? We have to think bold. We have to think big. We can do it. We are New Yorkers, there’s nothing we can’t do.”

Click here to read the full story on The Journal News website.

Photo of Long Island Sound by mclcbooks, via flickr creative commons