Advocates regroup for public transit on Route 110
A file photo of northbound traffic on Route 110 in North Amityville. Credit: Jim Peppler, 2007
The MTA plans to discontinue N95 bus service in and around the Melville area and to delay for five years a new railroad station near Republic Airport have stirred a protest from the business group Action Long Island.
The group plans to resurrect the 110 Transportation Management Association, which was disbanded in about 1999 after a 10-year run, said Sheldon Sackstein, Action Long Island's chairman.
"We felt we had accomplished all we needed to at that time," Sackstein said, explaining the association conducted surveys of the Route 110 corridor that led to traffic improvements.
Now, he said, it is time for action again. "To take away the bus and decide not to reopen the railroad station is a double whammy for the corridor," Sackstein said.
The LIRR's Republic station, north of the airport at Route 110, closed in 1987, the same year that Chantilly, Va.-based Fairchild Industries Inc. closed its Fairchild-Republic subsidiary in Farmingdale.
With new businesses opening on the corridor - including a new North American headquarters building for Canon U.S.A coming soon - the Republic station and the N95 bus are more important than ever, Sackstein said. He said he plans to arrange a meeting with Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials soon, and bring Route 110 business executives with him.
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