Lawmakers, civic groups, environmentalists, baymen and others gathered on the shores of Oyster Bay Friday to protest Gov. Andrew Cuomo's call to connect Long Island and New England with a new roadway.

State Sen. Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset) said a bridge or tunnel could devastate the North Shore area, bringing in more traffic, trucks and damage. He vowed to do what he can to stop the construction -- the current plan of which involves a bridge to the Bronx or Westchester County.

"Protecting this harbor, protecting our way of life...this is what we do and we are going to keep it that way," Marcellino said.

Earlier this week, Gov. Cuomo said he wants to spend $5 million on a study to determine the feasibility of the project. He has said the bridge would make it easier to get on and off Long Island.

In 1972, opposition killed the Robert Moses project that would have made the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway a super-highway linking to a bridge that would have towered directly over the hamlets of Oyster Bay and Bayville.