MTR 290, Suffolk Candidates Battle: Who Opposes Widening NY 347 More?

Issue 290

October 16, 2000

Suffolk Candidates Battle: Who Opposes Widening NY 347 More?

Newsday reported last Tuesday that NY State DOT plans to widen Route 347 in Smithtown and Brookhaven have entered into the NY State Assembly race between incumbent Steven Englebright and challenger Anthony Moncayo. Moncayo charged that Englebright has tended excessively to issues outside of the 4th district, and cited Route 347 widening plans as a local problem demanding more attention. "I don't want 347 to look like the Sunrise Highway or the LIE. I would never support the DOT's plans," he said, arguing further that Englebright should have prevented the DOT from even "wasting time" with its road expansion proposal.

Englebright, however, has been very active on Route 347 issues, both in 1996, when NY State DOT proposed turning the 16-mile road into a limited access highway, and at present, regarding the DOT's new plan to simply add new traffic and turning lanes for most of the highway's length.

In August, Englebright joined Brookhaven civic leaders in a press conference urging a 347 corridor plan that combined mass transit, smart growth land use policies and other measures able to keep traffic growth to a minimum (MTR #280). Englebright has endorsed the "5-point Plan for a Better Route 347," which calls for this approach. The 5-point plan is also supported by over a dozen Brookhaven civic and Long Island environmental groups, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, three village governments and Suffolk County legislators Ginny Fields and Vivian Fisher.

Newsday also reported last Thursday on the Assembly race in the adjoining 6^thDistrict, where challenger Jonathan Hark cites his activist record with the Smithtown Pine Civic Association fighting the Rte. 347 limited-access proposal in 1996. The incumbent is Assemblymember Robert Wertz.