STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Navigating the Staten Island Expressway, with its seemingly perpetual congestion and

, can be a frustrating experience.

Throw pineapples into the mix and its downright infuriating.

With the average Islander already commuting more than 40 minutes to work each day, it's no wonder residents are apprehensive about the impact that future development could have on traffic.

In the worst-case scenario — which for urban planner Steven Grillo would mean the failure to develop rapid mass transit options — people may abandon the borough altogether.

"If [people] can move to New Jersey and commute faster from 25 miles away, where are they going to go?" asked Grillo, who serves as vice president of projects at the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation. "It won't be abruptly. It'll take years over the next decade, but if we don't solve this problem now, there will be people who will leave."

Borough President James Oddo foresees an incremental decline in residents' quality of life if the status quo prevails.

"Without improvements big and small, the quality of our lives is diminished," he said. "We will spend more time in traffic, we will spend more time aggravated and it will take us longer to get to places that only a few years earlier took a short amount of time."

Oddo said he envisions the bulk of Staten Island losing what he considers its enviable suburban character if transportation enhancements aren't made.

"We will grow more urban by the day," he lamented. "Our everyday experience will be similar to what happens in other boroughs — where every time you get behind the wheel of a car it's a trying experience."

Both Grillo and Oddo agree that the construction of a West Shore light rail line connecting Staten Island to Manhattan by way of New Jersey's Hudson-Bergen Light Rail and PATH system is the borough's most critical transportation need.

Whether the project ever comes to fruition — it's been discussed for over a decade, but still lacks the support of a government sponsor — is another matter entirely.

There are, however, a number of other transportation improvements on the horizon within the borough that should provide some traffic relief.

STATEN ISLAND EXPRESSWAY ACCESS IMPROVEMENT PROJECT

Undertaken in 2010 and originally expected to last 18 months, the SIE's Access Improvement Project is finally winding down this year.

The $75 million plan, which was the Expressway's first renovation in more than four decades, involves reconfiguring eight on- and off-ramps along a 1.8-mile stretch of highway between Bradley Avenue and Lily Pond Avenue in an effort to move the ramps closer to major intersections and take pressure off of service roads and local streets. The Access Improvement Project also calls for modifying bridges and overpasses, and adding a fourth expressway lane in both directions.

A separate $114 million project intended to mitigate rush hour gridlock on the Expressway that involves widening and extending the Expressway's bus HOV lane between Slosson Avenue and Victory Boulevard, and adding auxiliary lanes and shoulders started construction this year.

WEST SHORE EXPRESSWAY

The West Shore Expressway also recently received funding for a makeover. The $7 million state DOT project, announced back in March, involves the construction of two new ramps in Charleston and the extension of the highway's service road.

"This project will provide immediate benefits to Staten Islanders, relieving a known bottleneck and improving traffic flow for commuters and businesses," state DOT Commissioner Joan McDonald said in a statement trumpeting the project.

As part of the plan, a new on-ramp to the West Shore Expressway's southbound lanes will be built at Veterans Road West and Bloomingdale Road, near the Lowe's store, and a new off-ramp will be built from the Expressway's southbound lanes onto Veterans Road West at Englewood Avenue.

The current on-ramp on Veterans Road West between Sharrotts Road and Clay Pit Road will be removed.

Construction on the project should be completed by spring 2015.

BRIDGE ENHANCEMENTS

Traversing to and from the borough will also be more expeditious in years to come, thanks to improvements being made on the Bayonne, Goethals and Verrazano-Narrows bridges.

In an impressive feat of engineering, the Bayonne is being raised 64 feet to better accommodate shipping traffic even as cars continue to zoom across. When construction is done, in the second quarter of 2017, the bridge will have two 12-foot-wide lanes in each direction, a 12-foot-wide pedestrian/biking path, nearly 5-foot-wide shoulders on each side and the capacity to carry a light rail option.

The Goethals, which is being rebuilt over the course of about four years, will have additional wide travel lanes and shoulders designed to mitigate congestion and allow for higher traffic volumes. It will also be built to include an option for future mass transit and a pedestrian/bicycle pathway.

"[The Goethals Bridge's] shortcomings, including narrow travel lanes and lack of shoulders, have hurt commerce coming into and out of Staten Island and caused numerous Staten Islanders to endure traffic jams during trips onto and off Staten Island," Borough President James Oddo said earlier this year when construction on the new span began. "When the new bridge is completed, the larger travel lanes, the addition of a new lane in each direction, and shoulders will alleviate some of the chronic traffic conditions caused by the current bridge's limitations."

A replacement of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge's aging upper deck that could save bus riders 15 minutes or more on their daily commute should also be finished by 2017.

The 50-year-old deck is being replaced by a lighter one that makes more efficient use of the bridge's width by removing the center median and service sidewalks on both edges to create a seventh lane. The additional lane will be used as a reversible bus/HOV lane that will flow with morning and evening rush-hour traffic and comprise part of a continuous 14-mile long bus/HOV lane that will run from the SIE's Victory Boulevard exit to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel.

NORTH SHORE DEVELOPMENTS

Perhaps most concerning to some Islanders is the additional traffic that will be generated by the New York Wheel and Empire Outlets coming to St. George.

While nationally renowned transportation expert "Gridlock" Sam Schwartz said the adjustment might be tough for residents during the first year, he doesn't expect a traffic apocalypse.

"You will have more congestion on the Island," he said last November, "but it won't be intolerable. It'll be confined to a number of areas, and we're taking measures to deal with that congestion."

Some of the methods Schwartz's firm is utilizing to alleviate congestion include changing the timing of lights, re-striping new turn lanes and creating new entrances into the site.

New York Wheel CEO Rich Marin is encouraging visitors to use public transportation options when visiting the 630-foot whirligig and believes the outlet mall will attract a bulk of the added vehicle traffic in the area.

"If nobody ever drives to the Wheel, I'll be a happy man," he said. "I really don't want people driving to this venue, because it doesn't make for the ideal experience. I want them to come by water, and I'm doing everything I can from a marketing perspective."

Borough President James Oddo acknowledges that mitigating traffic along the North Shore corridor will be a challenge, but believes the benefits are worth the impending transit headache.

"I would much rather have the challenge of 'What do I do with all these tourists and all the economic development and all this activity?' than to have underutilized sections and communities still waiting on rebirth and revitalization," he said.

The Staten Island Ferry's recent service increase — boats now run every half-hour on weekends until 2 a.m. and will eventually run every 30 minutes around the clock — should provide additional incentive for out-of-towners to eschew driving to North Shore attractions.

And an increase in weekend bus and rail service on the Island in concert with the ferry service expansion last month may encourage locals to opt for mass transit over their minivans.

RAPID MASS TRANSIT

While the variety of rapid mass transit projects that have been proposed for the Island over the years lack either the funding or the support to move forward, many believe they offer the best hope for alleviating Island gridlock.

The $589 million West Shore Light Rail plan would create a 13.1-mile transit system from Richmond Valley to Elm Park with connection to New Jersey's Hudson-Bergen Light Rail over the Bayonne Bridge.

The SIEDC strongly supports the project, but has thus far failed to secure the support of a local transit agency needed to sponsor the requisite alternatives analysis study and environmental impact statement.

"We've taken the ball 99 yards and have to hand it off to a government agency because we can't do it ourselves," said Steven Grillo, the SIEDC's vice president of projects. "An agency has to take up the effort, so we've been spending the past nine months to a year shopping this around and getting people interested."

The desired $5 million alternatives analysis study would look at other potential mass transit options like bus rapid transit or fast ferries, both of which planners and pols believe should be part of a comprehensive Island mass transit system.

A proposed North Shore bus rapid transit system, which is favored by the MTA, would run parallel to the Kill van Kull and transport passengers across eight stations between St. George and Arlington. The $357 million project would cut bus trips to the St. George Ferry Terminal significantly, according to a 2011 study.

Grillo said that while he supports dedicated bus rapid transit, he believes the Island's traffic problems warrant construction of the higher capacity, but costlier light rail option.

"It requires almost as much energy [to build a bus rapid transit system], so you may as well choose light rail," he said. "I think a bus rapid transit system would just be a stopgap."

The borough president believes a best-case transit scenario for the Island must also include a viable fast ferry operation with multiple fast ferry locations that route passengers to Manhattan for work or recreation.

"Staten Islanders have some of the longest commute times in the nation," Oddo said back in March. "We need to change that. We intend to use being an island to our advantage, and will do everything we can to bring fast ferries to various parts of our borough."

At this point, however, fast ferry service remains just another proposal that needs to be firmed up.

As Island dignitaries continue to explore potential mass transit options for the borough, Grillo believes it's essential they determine where each best fits geographically.

"Staten Island for many years has kind of had this one size fits all transportation plan, and that doesn't work," he said. "You need to think about different opportunities. So maybe light rail works on the West Shore, and heavy rail works on the East Shore. Or maybe [the East Shore] needs a ferry or the North Shore needs bus rapid transit. I think we need to have a really informed and aggressive dialogue looking at strategic corridors on Staten Island."