To Tame The Traffic Beast
Study Touts Alternative Modes
With summer traffic increasing by 8 percent every year and roads that are already pushing capacity, East Hampton Town must encourage the use of alternative modes of transportation. That is the crux of the long-awaited transportation update to the Town Comprehensive Plan, which was unveiled to the Town Board on Friday.
The study, commissioned in 1995, is the first update of the transportation section of the Comprehensive Plan in 31 years. The study notes that traffic on Montauk Highway had doubled between 1966 and 1982 and had tripled between 1982 and today. On some back roads, traffic has quadrupled over the past 30 years.
In the face of such figures, the study's consultants, L.K. McLean Associates of Brookhaven, also confronted the town's traditional public consensus against solutions such as a highway bypass, additional traffic lanes, traffic signals, and encouraging back-road bypasses.
No New Ferry
"In this context, the town must, therefore, look to other modes of travel, particularly rail and bus, to accommodate summer traffic conditions and thereby attempt to manage the overwhelming demand on its roadway system," the study states.
The recommendations of this study to a large extent echo the findings of another transportation report issued this spring, done under the auspices of the East End Mayors and Supervisors Association.
As expected, the newest study also recommends against any new ferry service in the town. The prospect of a Montauk-to-Connecticut car ferry was one of the key factors in commissioning the traffic study.
Grading The Roads
The study looked at the roads servicing the three potential ferry locations discussed in the past several years: Napeague Harbor at Promised Land, Fort Pond Bay at the Duryea complex in Montauk, and Lake Montauk. At no site would the existing roads and intersections be suitable to handle the volumes of traffic associated with a car ferry, the study concludes.
"A new ferry has the potential to cause a significant degradation in levels of service at roadway intersections providing access to a new terminal site," the study states. "In many cases, these levels are already poor." The study notes that Cross Sound Ferry's current Orient Point to Connecticut service carries 800,000 people per year and 320,000 vehicles.
Ferries aside, the study also recommends against any "major developments" that would have the same impacts on "levels of service."
On Verge Of Failure
The term "level of service" is used throughout the study and is a principal basis for the recommendations. Using industry guidelines, roads and sections of roads are rated on their ability to handle their volumes of traffic. The level of service is that rating. Like a report card, roads are graded from "A" (optimum) to "F" (failure).
In the peak season, almost all of Montauk Highway up to Napeague is rated at an "E" or "E-."
Giving an overview of the study to the Town Board on Friday, Raymond DiBiase of McLean Associates noted that, if traffic were to increase just 5 percent a year, the Wainscott portion of Montauk Highway would reach an "F" rating by 2002 and Amagansett's stretch of highway would fail by 2004. Conditions at an "F" level of service are essentially "stop-and-go," Mr. DiBiase explained.
Summer Traffic Year-Round
"Conditions are such that there isn't very much capacity left in the summer," he added. The study notes that summer traffic is not just a three-month phenomenon anymore. In Wainscott, for, example peak-hour traffic in April was found to be 84 percent of the peak-hour traffic in August.
A number of improvements could be made to Montauk Highway and other problem roads themselves, the study explains. Repaving the highway, installing left-turn lanes and wider shoulders where appropriate, improving clearance at some railroad underpasses, and improving safety at high-accident locations would all help, the study notes.
Shuttle Urged
But the town's main objective will need to be reduce the volume of traffic on the roads, the consultants conclude. More use of trains, buses, bicycles, and other modes of transportation is crucial.
The study recommends the creation of a shuttle bus service that would run between the town's hamlet centers and beaches and operate from "fringe" parking areas, away from the main routes.
The Town Board had been on the verge of setting up a pilot shuttle bus program this summer but has decided to hold off (see separate story on page 1).
The study recommends bus service for the entire area be addressed in a separate study, addressing such ideas as the shuttle service, a dial-a-ride service, and coordination with railroad stops and timetables.
Separate Rail Study
To make better use of the railroad system, the consultants also recommend conducting another separate study, in conjunction with the Long Island Rail Road, addressing rail service throughout the South Fork.
Still in draft form, the transportation update began with the formation of a technical advisory committee, including representatives of the Town Board, Village Board, Town and Village Planning Boards, Town Planning Department, and the Town and Village Highway Departments, as well as the Long Island Rail Road and state and county officials.
Public opinion has been sought throughout the process, including visits by the consultant with the town's five citizens advisory committees.
Other recommendations in the study include:
Establishment of a bicycle route system. The study supports the already proposed bike route along the railroad right-of-way as well as building new bike lanes on Route 114, Three Mile Harbor Road, and Montauk Highway from Amagansett to Montauk. More bike racks and lockers would help encourage bicycling.
Seek Public Funds
Pursuit by the town of "its fair share of public funding" through Federal and state transportation improvement projects to implement the recommendations of the study. Also, it should encourage public/private partnerships for some certain road improvements.
Implementation of specific safety improvements at 28 accident-prone spots.
Better coordination of stops and timetables among existing public transportation systems to encourage their full use.
Implementaton of educational programs on bicycle and in-line skating safety, as well as the benefits of non-auto modes of transportation.
No expansion of the airport, other than previously approved projects
Fringe Parking Lots
Concentration of more intense land uses near existing downtown business areas to help bring cars off Montauk Highway and encourage village centers as stops for pedestrians and rail and bus service.
Consideration of "fringe" parking lots, served by shuttle buses. Suggested locations included Town Hall on Pantigo Road, the airport vicinity, and in Amagansett, either by the train station or using the existing lot.
Installaton of sidewalks where needed, especially in residential areas where pedestrians use the roadway.
Copies of the transportation update are available for review at the Town Clerk's office, the Town Planning Department offices, and the Town Supervisor's office.
Protests Detour Shuttle Bus Plan
A plan to run a shuttle bus between East Hampton Town Hall, two town beaches in Amagansett, and East Hampton Village this summer was abandoned Tuesday in the wake of protests from members of the Amagansett Citizens Advisory Committee.
The shuttle bus was to have been a pilot project aimed at determining whether people in East Hampton would use alternative modes of transportation. It was designed to help town residents get to the beach without having to battle for a parking space on busy days. The bus was one of the many solutions to East Hampton's ever-increasing traffic problems suggested in the recently completed townwide transportation study.
Object To Route
The now-defunct plan called for a 20-to-25-seat bus to run in a continuous 50-minute loop on weekends throughout the summer, with stops at the Town Hall parking lot, East Hampton Village, and the Atlantic Avenue and Indian Wells beaches in Amagansett.
Some Amagansett residents were miffed at the idea of buses traveling up and down their "quiet, residential" roads to get to the beaches. They objected that the route planned for the pilot study would only serve to increase crowds at the already busy Indian Wells and Atlantic Avenue beaches.
"Let them wake up early [to find a parking spot] like everyone else," one Citizens Advisory Committee member said at a meeting on the transportation study Friday.
The committee called for the town to exclude the beaches from the route or to cancel it altogether. Excluding the beaches, said Supervisor Cathy Lester, would render the study useless. After considering the group's objections, the Supervisor wasn't willing to spend $10,000 on the project, though she maintained it was a good idea.
Bus For Employees
If the limited route planned for this summer had proven successful, the town might would have looked to include additional routes in the coming years to help shuttle people from remote, underused parking lots around the town to more congested areas where both parking and traffic are problems. These would include not only beaches but the East Hampton Village and Amagansett business districts.
The pilot plan had called for an additional bus, paid for by East Hampton Village, to run between the long-term parking lot on Lumber Lane Extension and the Reutershan parking lot in the village core, for two hours at the beginning and end of the workday.
This bus, East Hampton Village Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. had hoped, would have encouraged town residents employed by village businesses to use the more distant lot rather than the overly crowded Reutershan lot.
Point Of Contention
The fact that Mayor Rickenbach did not want the bus to make stops at village beaches had been a point of contention since the plan was introduced last month. Some on the Town Board, including Thomas Knobel, felt the exclusion of village beaches was unnecessarily pushing the whole focus of the route into Amagansett.
The village may still be interested in the bus for employees, but Ms. Lester said she doubted that it would happen.
Councilman Peter Hammerle, who also supported the pilot project, has repeatedly pointed out that the two beaches in question, while they may be located in the hamlet of Amagansett, belong to all town residents and, in the case of the Atlantic Avenue Beach, are used by many visitors as well.
Busier Than Usual
Atlantic Avenue Beach will likely be even busier than usual this year, shuttle bus or not. This week East Hampton Village eliminated daily parking at Main Beach, making Atlantic Avenue the only spot with a pay-per-day lot between Montauk and Sagaponack Main Beach.
Visitors unwilling to buy a $150 season sticker to park at village beaches will probably flock to Atlantic Avenue now, but they will not be getting there in a shuttle bus.