State Speeds Up Date For Route 27 Paving

The ruts and potholes that have turned a large section of the Montauk Highway into something resembling a bumper-car carnival spectacle will soon be no more.

Months of complaints from motorists, officials, police, and emergency personnel finally reached the ears of the right people in Albany last month, and the state announced this week that engineers have already begun designing what will eventually be a major reconstruction of Route 27 between Bridgehampton and Montauk Point.

The three-year, three-part project had originally been slated to begin in 2001. Instead, it will end then.

Work is now scheduled to begin next spring, with the first phase of repairs to be completed by December 1998.

Thiele Helps

Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr., who was instrumental in lobbying the State Department of Transportation to move faster, said the D.O.T. will "divert resources" for the capital project, which is estimated to cost between $3 and $4 million.

"It's not uncommon for D.O.T. projects to be hated," Mr. Thiele told The Star yesterday. In this case, he said, "there is no opposition."

Even marchers in the Memorial Day parade two weeks ago were heard to say they found it hard to walk on Pantigo Road just east of East Hampton Village.

Politics Of Economics

The Pataki Administration "responds to economics," said Mr. Thiele. In a meeting with D.O.T. decision-makers last month, he said, local officials "made the compelling argument" that the highway is the "vital east-west link on the East End, and a key to the area's economy of tourism, second homes, real estate, and construction."

Officials representing East Hampton and Southampton Town and East Hampton Village attended the meeting.

The entire reconstruction will cost about $9 million, Chris Cotter, the assistant D.O.T. director on Long Island, said yesterday. "Shifting" of funds will take place, Mr. Cotter said, because it was "brought to our attention that attention to the road could not wait."

Emergency Repairs

He declined to say which other state roads now will shift to back burners.

Three sections will be reconstructed during 1998: from Norris Lane in Bridgehampton to East Gate Road in Wainscott, from Stephen Hand's Path in East Hampton to Buell Lane, and from the Newtown Lane-Main Street intersection in the village to Skimhampton Road.

Bidding will take place next winter, Mr. Cotter said.

More immediately, Mr. Thiele said, emergency repairs will be made in the next two weeks at the intersection of the new and Old Montauk Highways just east of Napeague.

Some 1,500 feet there will be resurfaced, Mr. Cotter confirmed yesterday, with a 1.5-inch asphalt overlay.

Postponements

Also slated for completion this summer is construction of a new left-hand turnoff at Stephen Hand's Path.

Worsening potholes, impassable shoulders, and general disrepair have caused consternation among motorists, bikers, and ambulance drivers for some time. Work was to have started this year, but was postponed repeatedly.

East Hampton Town Supervisor Cathy Lester, Southampton Town Supervisor Vincent Cannuscio, and East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., were among those meeting with Mr. Thiele and state transportation officials on May 6 in Albany to lay out the problem.

"Fred led the charge and brought the D.O.T. to the table after hearing the hue and cry from officials in East Hampton and Southampton," said Mayor Rickenbach. "The end result is that the transportation department looked inward . . . and made a schedule improvement."

"We're pleased," the Mayor added. "It's a more realistic projection."

"This is really great news," said Supervisor Lester on Tuesday. "Thanks to Fred for allowing us to present our case to the D.O.T.

The road, Mr. Thiele noted, has been "quickly deteriorating into a dan ger ous roadway . . . unsafe at any speed."

Chris Russo, the East Hampton Town Superintendent of Highways, who has been vocal about the deteriorating conditions of Route 27, predicted that the state crew would "have a rugged time next winter and spring."

"Roads are not like people," he said. "They don't heal."