The Problem Just about anyone who lives or works on Long Island knows how difficult it can be to get around, especially during rush hours. Besides the annoyance and frustration for commuters, traffic congestion results in lost productivity, wasted fuel resources and increased air pollution, all of which threaten the overall quality of life for Long Island residents. Long Islanders use mostly cars to get around.  Current levels of congestion are a result of the tremendous growth in automobile travel over the past 25 years, even though Long Island's population has grown very little.  People have been buying more cars, and using them more frequently.  Long delays and even gridlock are the result. The bad news is it will get worse if nothing is done. Even the moderate predicted growth in population and employment for Long Island over the next 20 years can make the existing traffic problem much worse. The Plan What can be done? The good news is that planning is under way to develop solutions.  Government, business, and community leaders have joined with NYSDOT to prepare a long-range and results-oriented transportation plan to relieve traffic congestion and improve the movement of people and goods throughout Long Island. The comprehensive study will identify a variety of solutions; some will be implemented in the short term and some over the next 20 to 30 years. The goal of LITP 2000 is to provide efficient, safe, economical, and accessible transportation choices for all Long Islanders. And with the help of Long Islanders in planning it, LITP 2000 can really work to improve transportation.  What is a Major Investment Study? The Long Island Plan to Manage Congestion will be created through a Major Investment Study, or commonly referred to as a "MIS", which is required when federal funds are being considered for major transportation investments.  Instead of looking at just one type of transportation solution, for example a highway or transit improvement, the MIS will identify and evaluate all reasonable strategies for dealing with the identified transportation needs, including low-cost options and combinations of strategies.  Each alternative will be evaluated to determine its: ability to reduce congestion and improve the movement of people and goods; likely social, economic, and environmental effects; cost and cost-effectiveness; and likely financing sources. What Kinds of Solutions Are Being Studied? The debate about potential strategies for managing traffic congestion no longer begins and ends with "build more highways." Innovative thinking, realistic planning, and fiscal responsibility have become bywords of transportation planning. This is due, in large part, to widespread recognition of issues common to most localities: scarcity of developable land, environmental and community concerns, and limited transportation funding for large-scale capital investments.  An initial list of types of strategies under consideration includes: Travel Demand Management (TDM) actions and policies that encourage people to modify their travel behavior, for example, by traveling at less congested times of the day, using transit rather than cars, or increasing the number of people in a car for work trips. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) technology-based improvements that increase the efficiency of existing roads, by methods such as INFORM, computerized systems for routing of traffic around accidents or traffic jams. High-Occupancy-Vehicle (HOV) lanes as part of the roadway system that may encourage more people to carpool, rather than drive alone, and thus reduce traffic congestion. Physical improvements to the highway system (such as wider shoulders and interchange upgrades), that improve efficiency and safety by eliminating bottlenecks and traffic hazards. Transit system improvements that increase transit ridership and reduce the number of cars on the road, such as new or expanded transit service, additional/expanded park-and-ride lots, traffic signal preemption for buses or bus-only lanes. Improvements in the movement of cargo, which is currently almost exclusively by truck to, from, and within Long Island, would benefit all roadway travelers, for example, by reducing truck volumes during peak periods of traffic flow. Provision of safe and accessible facilities for non-motorized travel, such as pedestrians and bicyclists, that reduce reliance solely on the automobile for trips that could, instead, be made on foot or by bike. Public/private policy initiatives that improve transit system attractiveness and/or change people's travel habits, such as changes in land use controls, use of flexible work hours, carpool/transit incentives, congestion-based pricing, and telecommuting. What's Being Done About Congestion Today? The success of certain congestion management strategies is already evident on Long Island. Analysis of a Spring 2001 survey indicated that more than 23,000 Long Islanders began sharing rides for some of their trips so they could save time in the Long Island Expressway (LIE) High-Occupancy-Vehicle (HOV) lanes between Exits 40 and 64, a distance of 30 miles. This is a 130% increase over the survey results from January 1997. During Long Island's traditional "rush hour," the LIE HOV lane carries 74% more people than any regular lane in hundreds of fewer cars. During the 5-6 PM peak hour, the HOV lane carries 37% of all the people using the eastbound LIE, yet those vehicles use only one-quarter of the roadway. INFORM, the nation's largest and most advanced traffic information system for motorists, detects traffic slowdowns and emergencies via electronic traffic surveillance for efficient emergency response and for provision of information about traffic conditions. Since January 1996, the Suffolk Clipper express bus service has provided commuters living in mid-Suffolk County and working near Route 110 (LIE Exit 49) in Melville with a low-cost, reliable alternative to driving to work. Since 1999, the Clipper has also served the Hauppauge Industrial Park. By calling (516) 737-CARS, Long Islanders can find fellow commuters with whom to carpool. The Commuter Assistance Program provides free assistance to Long Island employers to set up programs to help their employees reduce drive-alone commuting by carpooling, telecommuting, or traveling to work by bus. Complementing the Commuter Assistance Program, the State DOT offers Long Island Region Improving Commuting (LIRIC) grants to major employers and municipalities to help fund programs that reduce auto travel during peak travel periods. The State DOT's H.E.L.P. service (Highway Emergency Local Patrol) assists drivers of disabled vehicles on the parkways and the LIE, free of charge, to clear them from roadways, thereby reducing delays to other traffic. You can learn more about the New York State Department of Transportation on the NYSDOT Home Page Note: If you experience difficulties printing this page, it is available in Acrobat PDF and Microsoft Word formats from our Study Documents page.