Formed in the 1920s as the Nassau-Suffolk Sand and Gravel Association, the group was instrumental in shaping and building the infrastructure that allowed Long Island to grow and prosper.
Good roads, bridges and other infrastructure were critical to the returning World War II veterans who married and flocked to their dream of a home and a patch of grass to raise their children, built by legend William Levitt and others. As these suburban communities grew, additional infrastructure such as a modern sewer system, helped to stitch together these new communities with the older and more established local downtown centers of Hempstead, Rockville Centre, Mineola, Great Neck, Huntington, Patchogue and Riverhead and unify the region as not only a suburb of New York City, but as an exurban region with a locally driven and sustained economy of its own.
In the 1960’s, the members of the then-renamed Nassau-Suffolk Contractors’ Association’s played key roles in the construction of the Long Island Expressway and the State Parkway system that allows motorists to move easily east and west and north and south while avoiding local roads, as well as the sewerage systems in Nassau and Suffolk counties that helped protect the environment and permit orderly development of more than one million homes for residents moving here from New York City and beyond.
In those early years and to this day, many of the Long Island heavy construction firms are family-owned and operated. Their years on these construction projects intricately bind them and their families to the successful development of Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
The organization changed its name to the Long Island Contractors’ Association in the mid-1990s and assumed a strong role locally, in Albany and in Washington, advocating for efficient and safe road networks. It continues in that role today. For its members, LICA also represents an important resource providing road construction safety programs and continuing education. LICA has worked to establish industry contract specifications that permit fair competitive bidding saving taxpayers money. LICA supports members in labor contract negotiations. Through that baseline of professional support, LICA facilitates cooperation among its members, their employees, industry contractors, suppliers and vendors and affiliated labor unions.
In its role advocating on policy, funding, and legislative matters, LICA is affiliated at the State level with the New York Road Improvement Coalition (NYRIC), and on the federal level with the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).
As Long Island traverses the 21st Century, a vigorous and effective Long Island Contractors’ Association will continue to play a central role in the redevelopment of an aging infrastructure. Working cooperatively with local business and civic organizations, with the State and local governments, LICA will ensure that the roads and infrastructure of Long Island will continue to support a vibrant economic base so that all of our residents can prosper and enjoy the quality of life Long Island is known for.
