Help Ahead for Worst of Route 114

Responding to pleas from state and local officials, the New York State Department of Transportation has agreed to repave eight of the worst sections of Route 114 between Stephen Hand’s Path in East Hampton and Sag Harbor by the end of this summer. 

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. and State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle thanked the D.O.T. for what they see as an interim fix and vowed to continue pushing the department to add a complete resurfacing of the road to its five-year capital plan. Officials had pushed for new pavement from Stephen Hand’s Path all the way to the South Ferry terminal on North Haven. 

“If we waited for the whole project, under the best-case scenario it would have been next year,” Mr. Thiele said yesterday. “They’re promising by the end of summer, but hopefully most of it gets done before the Fourth of July.” 

The initial repairs will improve conditions on the heavily traveled road, but “there are more locations which should be added to this list, particularly in the Village of North Haven between Short Beach Road and the South Ferry,” Mr. Thiele said in a release.

North Haven Mayor Jeff Sander agreed, saying in a release that the road from “the Sag Harbor-North Haven bridge to the South Ferry terminal is in terrible condition.”

In the meantime, Mr. Thiele said, “This was the most expeditious approach to protecting public safety.” 

The D.O.T. will replace the top two inches of asphalt in some of the most pothole-marred sections of the road between Stephen Hand’s Path and Goodfriend Drive in East Hampton, near Harrison Street and by Long Wharf in Sag Harbor, and on the North Haven side of the Lance Cpl. Jordan C. Haerter Memorial Bridge. 

“They didn’t go beyond the circle towards the ferry,” Mr. Thiele said.