Because traffic congestion has become an ever-growing problem for Long Island residents and will only get worse in the next few years, the Long Island Transportation Plan to Manage Congestion (LITP2000) has been setup to try and keep commuting and traveling on Long Island from becoming more of a hassle.

The LITP2000 study has many ideas on how to improve traffic congestion on Long Island and is now hosting open houses, the most recent of which was held at the Jericho Public Library on June 26, to let the public hear the LITP2000 plan and to get their feedback.

Although the population on Long Island has grown at a steady rate since the 1970s, the percentage of vehicle registration is up 58 percent and the number of miles each person drives has increased by 110 percent. In the next 25 years, the LITP committee, made up of Long Island's State Legislators, representatives from Long Island's towns, counties and cities, members from the business community, academic institutions, the Island's transportation providers and environmental and transportation experts, expects another 30 percent increase of cars on the road. The committee decided something had to be done to make traveling on Long Island easier.

Early on, the LITP committee decided that if a plan was going to work it would have to be flexible, serve travel in all directions, improve connections to LIRR stations, link with the bus system, and help reduce the number of people who drive alone during rush hour. The committee decided that improving road conditions would not alone solve the congestion problems on Long Island; the plan they named the Preliminary Preferred Alternative will do all of the above things.

Along with improving 130 miles of Long Island's roads, LITP2000 will introduce a new kind of travel to Long Island. A Long Island Rapid Commute (LIRC) transit system would be implemented and would link major destinations within Long Island. The system would include the use of Rapid Commute Vehicles (RCVs). Commuters would be able to take these vehicles instead of cars to places they need to go throughout Long Island. The vehicles would commute into Queens but not into New York City because of the existence of the Long Island Railroad. The vehicles are expected to have 20-40 seats, low floor boarding and be fast and reliable and would likely be able to move 50,000 people to their destinations during peak rush hour periods.

The RCVs would be able to move at a faster pace than regular cars on the road because the LITP plan calls for 60 miles of RCV priority lanes to be constructed on the expressways, parkways and an additional 40 miles to be constructed on the Long Island Expressway. Carpools with two or more people would be permitted to use the lanes as well.

According to a LITP2000 brochure, on other roads, the RCVs would be able to bypass cars in the road shoulders and have access to automatic electronic communication with the traffic-signal system to change the light from red to green, if traffic conditions permit.

The committee hasn't yet decided where the transit stops for the vehicles will be. They might be located in overpasses over the highways or on main roads.

"This system offers a choice and that's the best we can do," said Marv Gersten, employee from Parsons, Brinkerhoff, Quade and Douglas Inc., an engineering consulting firm involved in the project. "At the moment commuters on Long Island are captive. This new plan gives them options."

Gersten said that the LIPT2000 team wants to make the buses and the rest of the plan easy for people to use. The transit stops might be able to be in walking distance from people's homes or if not, there would be parking places available for RCV riders.

Along with the addition of the RCV vehicles and improving already existing roadways, the LIPT2000 committee wants to add new bicycle facilities to make riding around Long Island easier. The committee is also considering having goods delivered to Long Island by freight cars so that trucks won't have to travel throughout Long Island, which would also improve the roadways.

By 2020, the projected date for the implementation of the transportation programs, the LITP2000 committee projects that there will be 518 miles of congested roadways during the hours of 6 to 10 am in base conditions. With the implemented programs that number would be reduced to 383 miles of congested roadways. In 1995, the miles of congested roadways on Long Island were only 200.

Other alternatives to the RCV plan that were researched included adding tolls to major highways for non-carpooling cars and only improving roadways conditions. The plan actually increased the amount of projected road congestion because people took alternative routes to avoid paying the tolls. In researching the option to just improve the roads the committee concluded that it didn't solve the congestion problem to the degree that the RCVs did.

At the open house for the LIPT2000 presentation at the Jericho Library many community members commented on the program.

"After suffering through the highway widening construction in the past few years, this seems to be the fastest and less costly solution to Long Island's congestion problem," said Ray Warren from Brookville. "...I've always been frustrated by the lack of traveling options on Long Island and this might solve it."

Elinor Flatow from Jericho agreed that this system could be very beneficial to Long Island. "I'm originally from Philadelphia so I'm used to transit systems. My concern is that the schedule [for the RCVs] won't be followed because the ones for the buses now aren't."

Another concerned citizen from Jericho said that, "providing an enhanced transportation system is a necessity for Long Island. As a community member my concern is where are they going to put the cars [for the people who go to the stop-and-go RCV stop?]"

Kenny Lipper from Roslyn Heights also said that this is a really good idea but would like to see more suggestions. 'They should look into using the Long Island Sound for transportation into New York City," he said.

The plan is expected to cost $5 billion over 20 years. The funding will come from many places including the already existing state and national gas taxes, bond issues and fareboxes (public sources and tolls). The final draft for the LIPT2000 plan is expected to be completed by March 2002. The target date for the full implementation of the project is around 2020.