Sunrise Highway congestion prompts calls for third lane in both directions for 10 miles in Suffolk County

There are calls to widen Sunrise Highway, one of Long Island's most traveled thoroughfares.

The roadway has become so congested in one 10-mile stretch, officials and first responders say it needs another lane.

The summer crawl to the Hamptons is over for the year, but some eastbound traffic is not. On Sunrise Highway, also known as New York State Route 27, in Suffolk County, where three lanes merge into two in Patchogue, the bottlenecks are year-round.

"It causes a lot of accidents because people are merging and people aren't paying attention, going from 55 mph to almost a bare stop," said Daniel Glenn, of the North Patchogue Fire Department.

First responders say they are often navigating gridlock.

"It is absolutely dead stop at times. We have ambulances in a hurry to get to Stony Brook Hospital or NYU Langone or other parts of our community that need our help and it's incredibly challenging," said Brian Gilligan of South Country Ambulance.

While the population has grown, Sunrise Highway between Patchogue and Center Moriches has not.

"After COVID, it appears that a lot of folks came from the city and moved out east. In doing that, they brought with them a whole lot of traffic," state Sen. Dean Murray (R-Patchogue) said. "We welcome you here, but we need to keep up with our infrastructure projects."

Murray said Sunrise Highway needs a third lane each way from Exits 53 to 59, a span of 10 miles.

To do so would not require the taking of land, homes or trees. The project would just need money from the state, which Suffolk County officials say they shouldn't have to beg for.

"Do we get our fair share? Absolutely not. Suffolk County is shortchanged in so many ways," County Executive Ed Romaine said.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation released the following statement:

"The New York State Department of Transportation is currently investing more than $300 million to execute dozens of projects across Long Island, including a resurfacing project along Sunrise Highway that will be completed this year," the spokesperson said. "While there are no immediate plans in place for the stretch of highway under discussion, the department recognizes the importance of service roads along Sunrise Highway and has added an upgrade of these facilities to reduce congestion to its long-range plan for consideration in future capital programming."

If the proposal is accepted into a five-year plan, it would take that long to conduct studies and get shovels in the ground.