PATCHOGUE, N.Y. — Suffolk County and New York State elected officials gathered alongside labor representatives and first responders Monday to call on Gov. Kathy Hochul and state government to move forward with a major expansion of Sunrise Highway.
The September 15 press conference focused on a proposal to extend the existing three-lane portion of Sunrise Highway more than 10 miles east to Wading River Road at Exit 59, in both the eastbound and westbound directions.
State Sen. Dean Murray, Assemblyman Joe DeStefano, Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine, Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer Anthony Piccirillo, and Legislators Jim Mazzarella and Dominick Thorne were among the elected officials participating.
Representatives from South Country Ambulance, the Long Island Contractors’ Association and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 138 also joined the call for action.
A central message throughout the press conference was that Suffolk County residents send substantial tax revenue to Albany and should see more of that money returned to Long Island through major infrastructure projects.
“We send a lot of money to the state, and the state therefore should reinvest back into Suffolk County and Long Island,” Romaine said.
Officials repeatedly directed their appeal toward Hochul, calling on the governor to “do the right thing” for Suffolk taxpayers by advancing the proposed highway expansion.
Murray said some studies examining traffic conditions in the region have already been conducted and argued that the next step is moving the project further into the state’s transportation planning process.
He called for steps to be taken to have the proposed expansion included in the state’s five-year transportation capital plan, which would move the effort closer to the planning and funding process necessary for a project of this scale.
Thorne focused on the public-safety implications of congestion along the corridor.
He emphasized the need for additional highway capacity to help relieve traffic during emergency situations, when ambulances, fire apparatus and other emergency vehicles can face the same congestion as motorists while attempting to reach people who need assistance.
The argument presented Monday went beyond reducing commute times.
Supporters framed the expansion as an infrastructure, economic and public-safety issue for a portion of Suffolk County that has experienced significant transportation demands while continuing to depend heavily on Sunrise Highway as a primary east-west corridor.
The proposed expansion would carry the highway’s three-lane configuration eastward for more than 10 additional miles until Wading River Road, providing additional capacity through a heavily traveled section of Brookhaven Town.
Monday’s press conference, however, did not represent an announcement that the expansion has been approved or funded.
Major questions involving state authorization, engineering, environmental review, funding and an eventual construction schedule would still need to be addressed before work could begin.
For the coalition assembled in Patchogue, the immediate objective was to push the project higher on Albany’s infrastructure agenda.
Their message to Hochul was consistent: Suffolk County sends significant revenue to New York State, its residents rely on Sunrise Highway for transportation and emergency access, and they believe it is time for the state to reinvest some of those resources into expanding one of Long Island’s most important roadways.
