A coalition of state and county officials, labor representatives, and first responders gathered in Patchogue this week to call for a major expansion of Sunrise Highway, the busy corridor that carries traffic between Patchogue and the East End.

State Sen. Dean Murray and Assemblyman Joseph Destefano are pushing to add a third lane in each direction along the roughly 10 mile stretch of Route 27 between Exit 53 in Patchogue and Exit 59 in Moriches. Right now the highway narrows from three lanes to two in both directions through that stretch, and officials say the bottleneck has only gotten worse since the pandemic brought a wave of new residents to eastern Long Island.

"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. He said the congestion regularly slows emergency response, describing ambulances crawling at 5 miles an hour while trying to reach patients headed to Stony Brook University Hospital or NYU Langone.

Murray said growth on the East End has outpaced its infrastructure. "It used to be Fridays in the summertime, forget it, you didn't want to be near here. That's every day now," he said. He and Destefano want the state to begin planning and funding the widening, which they say would not require taking any land, homes, or trees, since it would use the highway's existing footprint. Both lawmakers are up for reelection in November.

Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine also voiced his support, framing the project as more than a traffic fix. He said it is about preparing eastern Long Island for continued growth while making sure infrastructure keeps pace with residents' needs. "Do we get our fair share? Absolutely not. Suffolk County is shortchanged in so many ways," he said.

Officials also pointed to added strain coming from a planned $650 million expansion at NYU Langone Hospital, Suffolk, which currently treats about 77,000 patients a year and is expected to draw even more traffic once it grows.

A spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation said the agency is currently investing more than $300 million in Long Island projects, including a resurfacing job on Sunrise Highway that will wrap up this year. There is no funded plan yet for the Patchogue to Moriches stretch, but the DOT said it has added service road upgrades along that corridor to its long range capital plan for future consideration.

If the widening is eventually included in the state's five year capital plan, officials say the first step would be a formal traffic study. There is currently no cost estimate for the roughly 10.5 mile project.