Historical problems with both traffic safety and flooding at a multi-street intersection in Montauk may be alleviated by a redesign and installation of a roundabout, the East Hampton Town Board was told on Tuesday.
Near Fort Pond Bay, the nexus of Second House Road, Industrial Road, North Shore Road, and Midland Road has five spurs and “about six stop signs,” Councilman David Lys told his colleagues. It also features a sharp right turn for motorists traveling west on Industrial Road who are turning onto Second House Road.
A new PSEG substation and battery storage facility was recently constructed in the industrial area, which also includes a taxi company’s headquarters, a landscaping firm, a building supply company, and a refuse removal company.
Flooding is a perennial condition at the intersection, sometimes to the point that smaller vehicles cannot navigate the roads, and poor sight lines make for hazardous traffic. The roundabout would calm traffic at the intersection, the board was told.
Jim Peterman of the L.K. Mclean Associates engineering consultancy showed a conceptual plan for a project that would be partly financed by PSEG, which elevated the ground at its substation, exacerbating flooding on Second House Road. Even after a light rain, that road “becomes a lake, a silt-laden lake” at the intersection, he said, “which is very problematic for highway crews, especially in the winter.” Highway Department vehicles “are constantly out there doing salting operations, even when it’s not snowing.”
The roundabout would be installed where a small grassy patch now sits, Mr. Peterman said, and the road would be raised six inches. Water would be collected in catch basins and piped to a proposed “rain garden” to be created at the corner of Second House Road and Midland Road, where silt would be filtered by vegetation. “This project will eliminate this silt-laden runoff from directly entering Fort Pond.”
The roundabout would slow motorists on Industrial and Second House Roads, which Mr. Peterson said account for some 90 percent of the traffic on the four roads.
An existing metal guardrail on Second House Road might be replaced by a wooden one, Mr. Lys said. The redesign could also allow for shoulders, possibly to be dedicated to bicycle lanes, he said.
It is hoped that a redesigned intersection would also help mitigate runoff into Fort Pond, a compromised water body. The area has been a chronic problem with respect to flooding, Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said, but “we want to keep the stormwater out of Fort Pond to the greatest degree possible” as well. “Whatever goes in, we want to make sure we’re filtering out sediments.”
The Montauk Citizens Advisory Committee was enthusiastic about the plan when it was presented to the group on Monday, Mr. Lys said.
Mr. Peterman said he will seek permitting from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for the project, which Mr. Lys said could be completed by next summer.
