Cuomo Renews Bet on Third Track to Ease LIRR Woes

Gov. Andrew Cuomo Tuesday gave New Yorkers a sneak preview of a piece of his upcoming State of the State address: a plan to boost Long Island's economy by adding capacity on the Long Island Rail Road.

He made his case before a group of business leaders: if the region wants to remain viable, he said, it can't have its citizens stuck in traffic.

"Congestion is going to increase by 25 percent by 2040," he told them. "Either you get ahead of that problem, or that problem is going to consume you."

It's not a new idea. Ten years ago, the MTA tried to add that third track along a 10-mile stretch between Floral Park and Hicksville. But community opposition was ferocious, and a coalition called "Citizens Against Rail Expansion" was part of the reason the plan was abandoned. Cuomo said the new version would be far better, because it would impact just about 20 homeowners and 30 commercial property owners.

Right now, four branch lines carrying two out of every five LIRR commuters share just two tracks along that stretch. (See a LIRR map here.) Veronica Vanterpool, executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, says that configuration has consequences.  

"The Port Jefferson Branch and the Ronkonkoma branch are in the top three for delays and lost productivity," she said. "It’s good to see this is a project that’s moving forward, because it would shave 40 minutes off round trip commutes for LIRR users."

Not only would the third track increase capacity for existing LIRR riders — but it would finally make it possible to commute from New York City to Long Island. 

"This project is the most important infrastructure project for transportation on Long Island," said Mitchell Pally, an MTA board member as well as the head of the Long Island Builders Institute. "As a result of only having two tracks, we can only run all the trains westbound in the morning and eastbound in the evening."

But another one of Cuomo's proposals wasn't greeted as warmly. The governor wants to spend $5 million to study the feasibility of building a tunnel under the Long Island Sound to the Bronx, Westchester County or Connecticut.

The idea of connecting Long Island with the continental United States, either by bridge or by tunnel, has also been kicked around before, most recently in 2008. 

"It's always worth it to take another look," said Christopher Jones, the vice president of research at the Regional Plan Association. "But it's a project that could actually create more problems than it's worth."

He said a tunnel would be costly, have potential negative environmental impacts on the Sound, and could increase traffic congestion on both ends of the tunnel. "So I think it's got a lot of hurdles to get over," Jones added.

The Long Island Rail Road's third track project is estimated to cost over a billion dollars. Outreach to the property owners will begin this month.