Long Island Crossing

The Long Island Sound link is a proposed bridge or tunnel that would link Long Island, New York State, to Westchester County or Connecticut, across the Long Island Sound east of the Throgs Neck Bridge. The most recent proposal involves a tunnel between Rye, New York, on the mainland and Oyster Bay on the island. Feasibility studies for both bridges and tunnels have been conducted for numerous entry points, as listed in the chart below.

Long Island is already connected indirectly via tunnels and bridges to Staten Island, to Manhattan, and to the Bronx, however, these connections require passing through highly congested parts of New York City. People who wish to drive from Long Island to New York State's mainland or to any part of New England have no better option than to cross the Throgs Neck Bridge or the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge, which are located on the northwestern corner of Long Island connecting the New York City boroughs of Queens and the Bronx.

Ferry service between Connecticut and Long Island is actually available year-round; the drawback is that the ferryboats are slow-moving vessels. Because of this, it takes so much time to cross the Long Island Sound that, if a traveler is going to somewhere in western Connecticut, it can be more time-effective to drive through NYC rather than use the Port Jefferson to Bridgeport, Connecticut ferry, even from points farther east than Port Jefferson, the town from which the ferry originates.

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