Greenway trail gets $3.8M federal award for 50-mile South Fork path to connect Riverhead to Montauk
Megan Lacobara, left, Joe Lacobara, both from Connecticut, and Tess Kelly, of Floral Park, ride their bikes at the North Shore Rail Trail that stretches from Mount Sinai to Wading River on July 10, 2022. Credit: Morgan Campbell
A long-awaited 50-mile trail on Long Island's South Fork, connecting Riverhead to Montauk for bikers, joggers and walkers, has received a major infusion of federal funding.
The U.S. Department of Transportation announced on Wednesday an award of $3.8 million to Suffolk County through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant program — part of the $550 billion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act — to design Long Island Greenway-East.
Once constructed, the new trail would connect to other segments of the 175-mile Long Island Greenway and a planned extension of the Empire State Trail, a 750-mile shared-use trail connecting Buffalo and Niagara Falls to Long Island and New York City. The Greenway is envisioned to one day create an off-road active transportation corridor from Manhattan to the East End.
The funding "will enable to Suffolk County, in partnership with the Town of Southampton, the Town of East Hampton, and the Trust for Public Land, to reach final design for a 50-plus mile trail connecting Riverhead to Montauk Point, a much-welcomed amenity for our entire region," Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said.
County officials said the $3,815,000 would be used to begin community outreach, preliminary design and engineering, construction cost estimating and final design of the trail extension. Successive phases of the project, including construction, would require additional money.
Final design for the project is hoped to be wrapped up next year, and be “construction-ready” in 2025, officials said.
"This funding will ensure that the necessary resources are available to plan and design the Long Island Greenway-East trail so residents and visitors can enjoy Long Island’s beauty safely," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who wrote to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in May, advocating for project funding.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer heralded the project as "a new kind of network for biking, walking and jogging."
Federal, county and local lawmakers have said the project would improve tourism, encourage economic development, create more livable communities and advance alternatives to vehicular transportation.
The 175-mile Greenway from Manhattan to Montauk would connect to 70 parks, 22 schools, seven libraries, one university and nine health care facilities located within a mile of the planned trail route.
Previous phases of the Greenway have traversed from Cedar Creek Park in Seaford along Wantagh State Parkway to Jones Beach, and then along Ocean Parkway to Captree State Park.
A 25-mile path from East Meadow's Eisenhower Park to Brentwood State Park is expected to begin construction next year.
Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.
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