Community efforts are underway to lobby State Department of Transportation officials for more safety improvements to Route 114.
At the Ross School in East Hampton, a letter-writing campaign promoted by Andi O'Hearn, head of advancement and operations, seeks to emphasize the importance of the left-hand turning lane that will be installed on northbound Route 114 near Goodfriend Drive, where the upper school campus is located.
"We've had a couple of accidents there that have been terrible. It is dangerous," Ms. O'Hearn said by phone this week. "The buses and trucks come barreling up and your car shakes when they pull to the right side."
Farther north, residents who live near a dangerous bend on Route 114 have formed a group called the Sag Harbor Traffic Crisis Committee. Its goal is to improve conditions where Hampton Street, a state road, meets Division Street, a village road. There have been many accidents there, the residents say, including an alleged drunken-driving crash that damaged a house and trees in October.
"The police described it as an anomaly, far from the truth," the committee wrote in a letter to Sag Harbor Mayor Kathleen Mulcahy. "It is only the latest of too many. We are writing on behalf of the group to engage your help."
The group expects to present ideas to the Sag Harbor Village Board on March 9. Ms. Mulcahy said this week that "we look forward to the conversation with them. We want to try to help them. I don't know that we have all the solutions, but we certainly want to listen and work together."
Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. said the state hears the community's concerns. The left-hand turning lane and the addition of a right-hand turning lane at Stephen Hand's Path are already in the plans for the major repaving project slated for 2023. Mr. Thiele also said the Sag Harbor residents' ideas, including speed bumps, bollards, and a villagewide speed limit of 20 miles per hour, are "being reviewed" by the Department of Transportation.
"Some of the things they are suggesting for Division Street, that would be something the village has to do," Mr. Thiele said this week. "I've got a meeting with the D.O.T. to follow up with them on that part of Route 114."
When the state first began weighing a paving project from East Hampton to the South Ferry terminal on North Haven, Mr. Thiele put out a call for proposals from community members. "We've gotten a fair amount," he said.
Christopher Engel, who directs the Ross School's summer camp, will never forget the day in October of 2014 that a truck rear-ended the car in which his daughter Emma was a passenger. The driver of the car had been waiting to make a left turn onto Goodfriend Drive, and the truck driver said the sun was in his eyes so he couldn't see the stopped vehicle. Emma suffered traumatic brain injuries that day, taking several difficult months to recover.
"That's one of those things a parent never wants to hear," Mr. Engel said. "It was a rough time and no one should go through that. Nobody should have that experience trying to get to school."
Mr. Thiele said Route 114 "has long been in need of repaving," and agreed with others that more should be done.
"We've successfully lobbied for the funding and other improvements, but it's not just about the pavement," he said. "The volume of traffic that that road gets now compared to 20 years ago is substantial. That has pointed out the needs for some of the other improvements we are talking about."
