Zeldin: Cross Sound Ferry Trucking Plan Permanently Removed From Federal Program

SOUTHOLD, NY - Congressman Lee Zeldin (R, C – NY-1), member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, recently announced that the Cross Sound Ferry trucking plan has been permanently removed from the America’s Marine Highway Program.

The proposed planned would have rerouted thousands of trucks from I-95 in Connecticut to the North Fork through the Cross Sound Ferry.

“I am proud to announce that the misguided proposal to reroute thousands of trucks from I-95 in Connecticut to the North Fork via the Cross Sound Ferry was officially removed from both regional and federal transportation plans,” Zeldin said. “While passenger ferries are an important part of the Long Island transportation and tourism economy, this particular plan was ill advised, as it obviously failed to properly assess the North Fork’s road system, which is not equipped for the additional truck traffic, and was contrary to the goals of America’s Marine Highways.”

Zeldin worked with local elected officials to have the Cross Sound Ferry trucking proposal removed from the Regional Freight Plan of NYMTC, the New York metro region’s transportation planning body.

On April 23, 2015, the proposal to reroute trucks was officially removed from the NYMTC Regional Freight Plan, but was still included in the federal plan.

In May, he sent a letter to Anthony Foxx, Secretary of Transportation at the U.S. Department of Transportation, urging the permanent removal of the Cross Sound Ferry trucking plan from the America’s Marine Highway Program.

After meeting with staff, and conducting a thorough review of the project, Foxx and federal Maritime Administrator Paul Jaenichen announced that the proposal has been officially removed from the federal plan.

Zeldin previously claimed that he strongly believes that the North Fork of Long Island is not equipped to handle that proposed truck traffic and that he believes the local road systems will not be able to accommodate the additional trucks that travel the 30 miles of rural road between Orient Point and the entrance of I-495.

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