LaValle Pens Letter Opposing Freight Plan that Would Bring More Trucks to North Fork

New York State Senator Ken LaValle, of Port Jefferson, is concerned that an aspect of the Cross Sound Enhancement Project that would divert 3,000 trucks annually from I-95 in Connecticut to the Long Island Expressway and Route 25 will have dire consequences on the North Fork.

LaValle wrote to New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone on March 24 calling the plan “ill conceived” and requesting that it be withdrawn.

After reaching the end of the expressway, trucks would continue for 30 miles on Route 25 in order to get to the Cross Sound Ferry terminal at Orient Point.

“Interstate 95 is part of a major highway network,” LaValle wrote. “This plan calls for re-routing trucks from this multi-lane highway to a two-lane rural country road bordered on both sides by pristine farmland, environmentally sensitive marshes, Long Island Sound and Peconic Bay.”

LaValle said the North Fork’s roads are rural and frequented by schoolchildren, pedestrians and cyclists, who would be put at risk due to increased traffic. “These roads were designed for local community use, and not for heavy trucking,” he said.

He went on to say, “This proposal flies in the face of all our transportation, environmental and sustainability efforts that so many have worked hard to implement.”