Gov. Andrew Cuomo spoke to Long Island business leaders Tuesday about the possibility of building a tunnel under the Long Island Sound.

The governor says he wants to spend $5 million to study the feasibility of a tunnel under the Sound to either the Bronx, Westchester or Connecticut.

The idea of building a bridge across the Sound was first proposed in 1938. The United States Senate discussed the construction of an 18-mile bridge that would cross from Orient Point to either Connecticut or Rhode Island.

Dr. Lee Koppelman - former director of the Long Island Regional Planning Board - told News 12 that he was among the first to propose a bridge from the North Fork to New England in the 1950s.

Koppelman says Robert Moses took notice after his drawing ended up in the New York Times -- but Moses wanted his bridge in Nassau County. The plan was eventually scrapped due to growing opposition.

Most recently in 2009, commercial developer Vincent Polimeni proposed a 16-mile tunnel under the Sound linking Long Island to Westchester. The project stalled due to lack of support in Albany.

The Polimeni firm says it hopes to play a major role in the governor's pitch for the Long Island Sound tunnel project.