State Fixes Needed On Local Roads
If there were one thing we wished regarding traffic on the South Fork it would be that state highway planners had spent the past week here just driving around. If they did, we are pretty darn sure things would be different quickly.
We can say this emphatically, since the last couple of times the Department of Transportation paid for roadwork out here, little, if any, thought was given to relieving summer tie-ups on Route 27 and Route 114, or to the fact that an unacceptable volume of trucks and personal vehicles has ended up on residential back roads because the state has failed to respond to seasonal and work force driving.
Pity for a moment, if you will, the people who live on Scuttlehole Road or north of Water Mill who are stuck in creeping, bumper-to-bumper lines of vehicles if they venture out to buy the proverbial quart of milk. It’s neither fair nor right. What of Montauk Highway in Wainscott? A disastrous stoplight, put in, best we can recall, about the time East Hampton Town police headquarters was moved nearby, slows movement in both directions — is it time for an overpass and on-ramps? A senselessly installed light on the highway in Water Mill creates similar delays. And Route 27 into Amagansett can be backed up nearly to Pantigo Road.
Route 114 is set for resurfacing this fall. But the work will do little to relieve summertime jams at Stephen Hand’s Path in East Hampton or on the approach to Sag Harbor. At Route 114’s eastern end, Buell Lane in East Hampton Village, avoidable accidents are the norm. That said, in a joint state and village project a roundabout is to be built at its Toilsome Lane intersection, the so-called five corners, soon, though how that will impact the surrounding streets still seems unclear.
Unfortunately, the state has just not kept up with the growth of the South Fork’s peak population. Roads that may be adequate in October are not good enough in July, or August, or, in fact, even into the shoulder seasons. Much more thought must be given to how Route 27 and Route 114 are used today, and new plans for dealing with the ever-increasing number of vehicles should be the priority.