Toll lanes, rerouting trucks suggested for major roads

The problem: Major roads

overwhelmed by traffic.

The fix: "Toll lanes" to ease car traffic; to reduce truck numbers, better

freight-rail links to Long Island.

It's a simple matter of math.

Twenty-five years from now, Long Islanders will face roads that are more crowded than ever, with more cars and no more roadway, planners predict. So battling traffic congestion will require rethinking the way drivers use those roads.

Eileen Peters, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation, said it is not "economically, environmentally or socially feasible" to build a new major road on Long Island for the next several decades.

Neither adding roads nor adding new lanes to existing major roads - the Long Island Expressway, Southern and Northern State parkways, and Sunrise Highway - are even on the radar for the next quarter century.

And so the DOT says its mission is to ease traffic congestion using the roads already in place and new tools such as congestion pricing.

TOLL LANES.Peters said the DOT would consider adding "priority lanes" on the Northern and Southern State Parkways, reserved for those willing to pay a toll for a faster commute. Car poolers might be able to use it for free.

So-called HOT lanes - high occupancy/toll - lanes are already in many states, including in California on San Diego's Interstate 15 and in Florida on Interstate 95 in Miami. In those cities, the lanes have not only successfully reduced traffic congestion, but have also generated important revenue to support transportation, experts said.

Lisa Tyson, executive director of the Long Island Progressive Coalition, said they may be a tough sell on Long Island, where some drivers may see them as "Lexus lanes."

"They'll say, 'Why is it that because you have money you're able to get to work on time?' " Tyson said.

The DOT says it has studied creating such priority lanes on Long Island roadways, but has no plans to implement them because of financial and environmental obstacles. In the interim, the DOT is considering changing the occupancy standards on the LIE's existing high occupancy vehicle lanes from two people to three. "We're at the point now where the HOV lanes have congested periods," Peters said.

In Miami, where congestion pricing was introduced northbound in December 2008 and southbound two months ago during rush hour, almost 10 million vehicles have used the high occupancy toll lanes. Speed on the regular non-express lanes has increased from 20 mph to 42 mph northbound and 52 mph southbound.

As of the end of January, the express lanes have generated almost $6 million to pay for operating the system and mass transit improvements. Tolls range from 25 cents to $5. Almost 8,000 vehicles have registered to use the lanes; 67 percent of I-95 commuters have used the express lanes. It's free for those in a registered car-pool, which requires three or more licensed drivers living and working in the same areas. There are more than 1,840 carpools and van pools using the road.

TRUCKS BE GONE.Another important piece of the puzzle, most experts agree, is to get as many trucks as possible off the LIE. A rail tunnel from New Jersey to Brooklyn could give Long Island a direct connection to the nation's freight rail network. The Port Authority is studying such a plan.

Once delivered here by train, shipments would have to be loaded onto trucks at one or more facilities out on Long Island. The State Department of Transportation is exploring building such facilities, along with new lanes for trucks to bypass the Sagtikos State Parkway when traveling south off the LIE.

The status: Toll lanes not likely but under study; proposed rail-freight yards have faced major opposition, but the idea persists.