A mammoth, 14-mile bridge across the Long Island Sound – connecting Kings Park in Suffolk County to Bridgeport, Connecticut – is once again being considered by state lawmakers, amid a push by one of the projects strongest advocates, real estate developer Steve Shapiro, according to reports.
The proposed project, which could cost as much as $50 billion and has been alternately up for discussion and tabled multiple times over the years, was discussed during a legislative session held in the Connecticut State Capitol on Tuesday, March 3.
“Look, there’s no doubt it’s expensive, and a lot of people think, ‘Hey, it’s been tried for 90 years, why is it gonna get done now?’” Shapiro said. “We’d be fully interconnected. It’s only 14 miles. We’re talking Bridgeport to Norwalk. We know people commute a heck of a lot further than that in Connecticut.”
Currently, commuters to and from Long Island are forced to endure a two-hour drive or a one-hour ferry ride across the Long Island Sound. But Shapiro and other supporters of the project are hoping lawmakers will create a Connecticut Bridge Authority in 2027, an agency whose task would be to explore all aspects the bridge project, from funding to design, construction to completion.
The project has both found support amongst lawmakers over the years, but also its fair share of detractors as well. The most recent study on the viability of the Long Island Sound bridge was conducted in 2017, although ultimate nothing materialized from it.
