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Marty Buchman

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, left, and Marty Buchman, a member of the board of the New York Bicycling Association. Photo from Bellone’s Flickr page

Suffolk County’s transportation network may soon undergo significant transformation.

In 2020, the Suffolk County Department of Economic Development and Planning published its Hike and Bike Master Plan, which calls for 1,200 miles of new pedestrian and biking infrastructure countywide.

To mark Car Free Day on Friday, Sept. 22, county officials joined transit advocates along a bike path in Kings Park, announcing a new program to achieve the goals of this master plan through intermunicipal coordination.

“Today on Car Free Day, I am proud to announce that we are taking our Hike-Bike Master Plan further, taking additional steps to create a safe and comfortable biking environment in Suffolk County,” said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone (D).

The new program, GEAR — Guidance for Enhancing Active Recreation — Up Suffolk, will authorize the county’s Department of Economic Development and Planning to provide free technical and design assistance to municipalities to implement active transportation projects. This undertaking aims to help Suffolk’s towns and villages expand trail access by reconfiguring local roadways.

While various trail networks already exist, Bellone said the GEAR Up initiative could help “fill in the gaps” between existing trail infrastructure.

“Where are the gaps? They’re roads,” he said. “In many cases — most cases even — they’re local roads.”

Bellone said the county government seeks to offer conceptual and preliminary designs, conducted in coordination with local municipalities, tailored to meet a community’s needs. 

These proposals may include corridor designs, bike lanes, sidewalks, crosswalks, curb extensions and flashing beacons, among other design elements.

“We want to create an interconnected biking and hiking network that you can use [to] travel across the county,” Bellone said.

Marty Buchman, a member of the board of the New York Bicycling Association, pointed to the deficiencies of past planning and its impacts today on local communities.

“Suffolk County was never designed for the amount of population that it contains right now,” he said. “The roads were designed for a rural county,” adding, “The situation of cars in Suffolk County is going to get worse.”

Buchman advocated for planners and municipalities to view the bicycle as an alternative to the automobile. He suggested trails could help alleviate several of the challenges drivers experience on roadways.

“I’d like to see more paths — not just recreational paths but paths for transportation,” he said, advising “that a bicycle be looked at as more than just a fitness tool or an outdoors tool but a way for people to get from point A to point B.”

He added, “That’s not going to happen without the required or needed infrastructure.”

Bellone outlined multiple benefits of expanding trail access, such as environmental protection, economic development and downtown revitalization.

Amid escalating fears of a youth exodus from Long Island, Bellone said promoting alternative modes of transit can help the county retain and attract young people.

“We are in a competition for innovators, young people, entrepreneurs and skilled workers,” the county executive said. “We want them living in our downtowns. We want them raising their families here because that will bring more jobs, businesses and sustainable economic growth.”

“You get that when you make investments in the things that improve people’s quality of life,” he added.

Buchman referred to hiking and biking infrastructure as an apolitical policy area: “This is not a political issue,” the transit advocate said. “Republicans ride. Democrats ride. People ride.”

In achieving the goals of the master plan, Bellone said intergovernmental collaboration would remain crucial while working toward the objectives of the 2020 master plan. 

“Having an interconnected hiking and biking network throughout Suffolk County helps every community and family across the county,” he said.

The county will accept applications for the GEAR Up program on a rolling basis.

The Stony Brookside Bed & Bike Inn is the first of its kind on Long Island. Photo by Lloyd Newman

Innkeepers have brought European bicycle culture to Long Island.

Marty and Elyse Buchman, who have been bicycling the world together for a decade, opened the Stony Brookside Bed & Bike Inn on June 1, located at 48 Main St., Stony Brook.

The couple set out to create a bed and breakfast that would cater to cyclists; providing not only sleeping space and a morning meal, but bike tour itineraries and even bikes, if needed, as well. Two months in, business has been much better than they expected.

“We’ve had people just looking for a place to stay — and that’s fine,” the husband said, indicating that not only cyclists have made up their clientele. A wedding party used Brookside for lodging recently.

The Buchmans have enjoyed bicycling in Europe because traveling by bicycle is considered normal there. It’s not just recreation; it’s a legitimate form of transportation, even for vacationers.

Their inspiration for a new kind of American bed and breakfast came during a 2010 bike tour of Italy. They booked a room in a “bike hotel” in Riccione on the Adriatic Sea. “Each day a guide came and took you for a different ride,” Marty said. “The idea was that you came back to the same place; and didn’t have to worry about navigating [your way] around.”

Marty and Elyse Buchman open the first bed and breakfast catering specifically to bicycle enthusiasts on Long Island. Photo by Lloyd Newman
Marty and Elyse Buchman open the first bed and breakfast catering specifically to bicycle enthusiasts on Long Island. Photo by Lloyd Newman

The following week they had a similar experience at Lake Garda in the mountains of northern Italy, this time staying at a “sports hotel.”

By vacation’s end, they had all the inspiration needed to start their own business.

When they first saw the colonial revival building at 48 Main Street, next to the Stony Brook Grist Mill and across the street from the duck pond, they decided it was perfect.

Built in 1941 by renowned architect Richard Haviland Smythe in a beautiful natural setting, it had the added advantage of being within walking distance of restaurants and shops, a museum and historical landmarks, a pond and nature preserve. It took perseverance, patience and negotiation skills, but they were able to purchase the house in 2014.

“This is an up and coming area for people to visit,” Marty said. “We’re always struck by how beautiful it is when we go on bike rides. People think they have to go out to the Hamptons or Sag Harbor. This is an undiscovered area. Just in the past year, [the opening of] the Jazz Loft and the Reboli Center, it seems like a lot of stuff is happening.”

The couple has done various kinds of marketing. The most effective, they said, was the simplest. A friend who runs a bike tour company put their business cards in every bike store in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

“It’s called a Bed and Bike Inn because it is a Bed & Breakfast, but oriented towards cyclists,” Marty said. “We have mechanical stuff. We have pumps. We have everything you might need for your bike. We have bikes, we have helmets; but most importantly, if you come to me and you say, ‘I want to do 20 miles and I want to see historic things,’ I’ve created a route book to provide just that. People can look through our ride book and decide what fits them.”

Elyse pointed out that each ride page gives you distance and elevation data in addition to the general route.

“Once a route is chosen, we print out turn-by-turn directions and we also provide a Garmin GPS which mounts on their bike and beeps when they have to make a turn,” Marty said. “I have lots of suggested routes — everything from 12 to 100 miles.”

Marty is a high school history teacher and said he would love to lead a local history bike tour. So far, though, no one has asked for that. Elyse noted that most guests have preferred self-guided rides, because then it becomes an adventure. “People tend to like to do that,” she said.

The house has three bedrooms, each with a private bath, and is open to guests seasonally. It will close Nov. 1 and reopen to guests on April 1 next year. For more information, call 631-675-0393.