Forget the white pants or the crisp, sky blue shirts. Traffic-cone orange is the color of summer 2024 in East Hampton Village.
“It’s a disaster. We want to make sure residents understand it’s not the village doing the work, it’s the D.O.T.,” Marcos Baladron, the East Hampton Village administrator, said about the multiple construction zones that have been impacting travel along Route 27, a state road that doubles as the village’s Main Street and chief artery. “It’s annoying. It’s disruptive.” The work is being done by the New York State Department of Transportation.
The 1.5-mile drive from another state road, Route 114, through the village on Route 27 to East Hampton Town Hall took 10 minutes at midday Tuesday, with multiple choke points and full stops. A line of seven cars attempted to make the left onto Route 27 at the intersection of Buell Lane/Route 114, while two pedestrians were forced to thread their way through cars stopped in the pedestrian walkway that crosses Buell Lane. Across the intersection, three cars attempted to turn right onto Dunemere Lane, no doubt to avoid traffic along Main Street, but the last car blocked the eastward flow on Route 27, so that a line of cars extended to Town Pond.
Traffic cones were completely democratic, afflicting houses of government (Village Hall), religion (the Presbyterian Church), commerce (multiple stores), historical institutions (the Osborn-Jackson House), and media (the East Hampton Star building) equally. The work to dig out and replace aging storm drains and add new curbs was begun by the New York State Department of Transportation nearly a year ago.
“The safety and convenience of the traveling public are always top priorities for the New York State Department of Transportation and the department is currently performing storm drain maintenance along State Route 27 in the Village of East Hampton to help ensure the roadway is prepared for severe weather,” Stephen Canzoneri, a spokesman, said.
“These guys just come by, they don’t tell us anything, and they disrupt life on a July weekend,” said Mr. Baladron. “We don’t hear anything. We hear nothing. The mayor is very upset. He was out on the street picking up and moving cones and telling the workers they don’t run this town. It’s a state road, sure, but we do have rights.”
“It’s just the wrong time of year to be doing this type of work, disrupting the traffic flow and more importantly, taking up parking spots. This is prime time for business owners. They wouldn’t even let the Jitney pull into the Jitney stop the other day,” said Mayor Jerry Larsen.
Over the weekend, Mr. Baladron said workers had coned off all the parking in front of Village Hall and then taken a lane to park their own vehicles. “It’s a joke. It’s disrespectful. Their personal vehicles were on the sidewalk. It’s a little insulting.” Yesterday morning, they were back. “They’ve got an excavator out there and they’re blocking one lane of traffic. We told this guy not to park on our lawn yesterday and there he is again, parked right on Huntting Lane. He’s about to get a ticket,” said Mayor Larsen.
“To minimize traffic disruptions, N.Y.S.D.O.T. is maintaining both lanes of travel with lane shifts throughout the duration of the work, which is expected to be complete later this summer. Questions about the utility work being performed on State Route 27 between Newtown Lane and Egypt Lane should be directed to National Grid,” Mr. Canzoneri said.
Right. Get through the intersection of Main Street and Newtown Lane and you’re greeted by a Frankenstein scar in the road that’s terrifying to low profile car drivers. National Grid workers were seen Tuesday, strolling past Prada in hard hats. One stood in the middle of a traffic island. “The amount of time they’re taking to make the village look like a pile of garbage is not appreciated by anyone here at Village Hall,” said Mr. Baladron.
Lest you think the end of the summer will mean some return to normalcy, take a deep breath, because PSEG is about to start a large upgrade to the distribution grid, “due to continuing growth in electric demand on the South Fork,” according to Jeremy Walsh, a spokesman for the company.
“This project will convert two older, 4 kV distribution circuits that are at peak load capacity during the summer months into higher-voltage 13 kV circuits to improve reliability and service. The work is mostly underground and has been scheduled for the off-season, after Labor Day, to minimize economic disruption. It is scheduled to begin at the end of September and last approximately until the end of May 2025. The project manager is coordinating with the East Hampton Village Public Works Department and applying for permits as part of the planning stages. Before any construction starts, East Hampton Village leadership will be briefed on the details of the project.”
Of course, if all the work isn’t enough, there’s the usual amount of unbearable summer traffic, aided and abetted by a complete shutdown of roads in Southampton, Bridgehampton, and Water Mill last week to allow for former President Donald Trump to drive in from Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach for a fund-raiser, which created ripple effects for East Hampton.
“The closure of roads for the Trump fund-raiser caused people to miss our gala entirely,” Andrea Grover, the executive director of Guild Hall, said.
