| Issue
289 |
October
9, 2000 |
More Villages Question Rte 347 Widening
Last week, governing officials of the Village of the Branch and the
Village of Port Jefferson in central Suffolk County agreed to endorse the
"5-Point Plan for a Better Route 347 Project," a set of guidelines that
civic, municipal and environmental constituencies want NY State DOT to
abide by in planning any work along Route 347. DOT's plan is to add
new lanes and significantly expand a number of intersections along
the highway's entire length. The Village of Lake Grove voted to back the
5-Point Plan in early September. The villages join a strong list of civic
associations, transit advocates and Suffolk County and NY State legislators
in raising serious questions and concerns about the highway widening
plan to widen Route 347 in the Towns of Brookhaven and Smithtown.
The 5-Point Plan call on NYSDOT to work with towns to combine roadway
and land use plans, pursue non-paving strategies more vigorously, and work
harder to meet the concerns of affected citizens (MTR
#278).
It is now 411 days since TSTC first requested DOT's post-widening
traffic estimates for the Route 347 expansion project, but DOT still
refuses to let affected communities know what it has in store for them.
