A private developer has bid to build the world’s longest highway tunnel, across the Long Island Sound. The New York State Senate is currently reviewing Vincent Polimeni’s proposal to construct a privately owned, 16-mile tunnel from Oyster Bay, Long Island, to Rye, N.Y. Polimeni budgeted the project at around $10 billion, the cost of which he intends to recuperate by charging drivers $25 each way and selling advertising on the tunnels walls. The project, to our delight, has managed to piss off a variety of special interest groups. Residents near Rye and Oyster Bay are protesting, asserting that traffic congestion has already reached critical mass. The state government, too, is pacing nervously, wondering aloud if they ought to allow a privateer such, umn… power, and, if so, how they’ll get their hands on the lion’s share of profits.
The “infrastructure and construction” communities are, no doubt, salivating… a 16-mile underwater tunnel would take a bit of manpower, concrete and steel, to say the least. Although they’re probably not salivating nearly as much as they were before and during the Big Dig in Boston. Heh. Not nearly as much graft on a private project, we suspect.
In the ’70s, Robert Moses, the father of New York City bridge construction, was a breath away from convincing Nelson Rockefeller to build a bridge almost identical to Polimeni’s tunnel. Rockefeller bailed, but only in fear of public backlash ruining his re-election prospects. We’ll keep you updated as to how it works out this time around…
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