Archive: Opinions

Britain and France have their Chunnel (tunnel beneath the English Channel - the French call it la Manche, which means 'the Channel' -- no nationalism there!)  Tompkins County needs a Lunnel (tunnel beneath the lake).  Every time I drive from Lansing to Trumansburg or Enfield I think about a Lunnel.  I have lived here for over 30 years and it has taken me this long to put that thought into words.

A Lunnel would save time and gasoline (one of Tompkins County's goals, to reduce carbon emmisions).  It would strengthen the bond between two communities.  It would provide an alternative to Ithaca's horrendous bypass (Fulton Street) that doesn't actually bypass anything and is, more often than not, fraught with bumper to bumper traffic.  And it would provide a huge economic boost in these COVID times when so many people have lost jobs, in much the same way as President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration provided millions of jobs on public works projects like roads and buildings and... tunnels.  Are you reading this TCAD (Tompkins County Area Development)?

At the moment it takes 28 minutes to get from the Lansing Town Hall to the Village of Trumansburg.  You travel 18.5 miles, which comes to about 74% of a gallon (based on the approximate average 25 mpg of the US fleet).  Contrast that to the 9.27 mile trip via the Lunnel which only uses 37% of a gallon and takes half the time.


The pros outweigh the cons.  The pros: New jobs for as many years as it would take to carve out a Lunnel below Cayuga Lake.  New jobs means new spending.  It would mean an economic boost to both Lansing and Trumansburg as it would be faster, easier, cheaper, and less frustrating to get from one community to another for shopping, entertainment, or just for folks passing through.  The cons: you wouldn't have time to finish a whole podcast.

If you have ever tried to drive from Point A to Point B in New York State you know that it is impossible.  We have to zig and zag from Lansing to wherever we can pick up a highway that leads to another highway that leads to... you get the picture.  For instance, to get to Boston you have to ramble around the back roads to Route 81 south, then back north on Route 88 to route 90 which kind of curves over Albany before it starts going south, and then to stay on 90 you have to take a hard left where you finally pick up the Massachusetts Turnpike, which, not being in New York State, is a straight line across the longest route in Massachusetts (let's face it, Massachusetts is a tiny state, so travelling the long way still takes less time than going from Lansing to Albany) to Boston.  Sure, you can creep north to pick up the New York Thruoughway (90) but the 88 way is prettier, a half hour faster, and has no tolls until you get close to Albany.

If the Lansing-Boston trip were a straight line it would be 277 miles.  That would cut almost 60 miles from the shortest existing route, shaving an hour off the drive.  I've made that trip a number of times, and I can tell you, I may be the one driving, but in my mind I'm the 5-year old in the back seat repeatedly intoning, "Are we there yet?"

There is no down-side to a Lunnel. The county Public Works Department could avail itself of the expertise of the salt mine.  Those guys really know how to make tunnels, and they are right on the route it would be necessary to take to get to the Lunnel entrance on the Lansing side.  So what are we waiting for?  It will take years to get the Lunnel designed and constructed, so the sooner we begin the sooner we can start reaping the benefits.

The only hitch I can see is that our friends across the lake might want to call it the Trumansburg-Lansing Lunnel instead of the Lansing-Trumansburg Lunnel.  One might argue that listing the communities alphabetically is an age-old way of deciding such things, but I have a better idea.

Think of how much community spirit both municipalities could build if it were decided by a friendly competition.  Like an arm wrsetling contest between Lansing Supervisor Ed LaVigne and Trumansburg Mayor Rordan Hart.  It could be a big festival with food tents, a band, commemorative pails and buckets representing the digging of the Lunnel... why the one event alone could take the edge off the tax expenditure it would take to build the thing!  What are we waiting for?

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