| Issue 59 | November 10, 1995 |
Perspectives on Cross-Westchester Widening
As public hearings approach on the NY State Dept. of Transportation's (NYS DOT) proposal to widen the Cross-Westchester Expressway with a reversible carpool ("high-occupancy vehicle" -- HOV) lane in the highway's median, critics of the plan are focusing on the following themes: The planned HOV and CWE reconstruction will not offer lasting congestion relief. Construction will cause years of disruption. DOT's own analyses show that after a few years of relief, congestion will be back. Highways attract traffic.
Many people will not be able to use the HOV, which will have only a limited number of entrances and exits. Thus, it will have only modest effects in shifting people to carpools. The HOV project will give shape to much of the future development of transportation in the Mid-Hudson South area. It could be first of a network of new lanes on most highways in the Mid-Hudson South area. A committee convened by NYSDOT is examining HOV lane ideas for other highways that connect to I-287. Yet the public is not being informed of this larger plan. If the HOV network is not built, the I-287 HOV lane could become just another highway widening -- already political and media pressure is mounting in Suffolk County to open the HOV lane there to general traffic for part of the day. The Cross-Westchester project comes with a preliminary price tag of $365 million, which many think is underestimated (cost projections for projects of this size are notorious for overruns). The project would subsidize long-distance carpooling for a few minutes a day time-savings, while continuing traffic-inducing toll subsidies for drive-alone commuters. Because of the scale of the public resources involved, creation of the I-287 HOV and a much wider HOV network could preclude implementation of other transportation strategies like improved transit in Westchester and the rest of the Hudson Valley. Even with fairly low levels of transit service, transit ridership in the mid-Hudson area is increasing. The center-median HOV lane will require large, unsightly new fly-overs and ramps to be built over the highway in White Plains and at other I-287 entrances and exits. For more information, contact Federated Conservationists of Westchester County, 914-592-0262.
