Apr 20, 2016 10:54 AM

While Southampton Town officials do not expect to receive data on this week’s blinking light trial run on County Road 39 until early next week, they say preliminary observations suggest that traffic flow improved in that corridor during its three-day run.

If the program does prove to be successful, the town will work with Suffolk County to develop a long-term plan to change up the intersection at Tuckahoe Road and County Road 39 to eliminate the traffic light there. That plan could possibly include an ambitious idea: an underpass, similar to the setup at nearby St. Andrews Road.

The three-day program began Tuesday and was scheduled to run through Thursday. Effective from 6 to 9 a.m., it involved switching the tri-colored signal at the intersection to blinking yellow to see if removing the traffic light would reduce traffic backups on busy County Road 39. Left-hand turns from Tuckahoe Road onto County Road 39 were prohibited, as were left-hand turns from County Road 39 onto Tuckahoe Road. Motorists traveling north and south on Tuckahoe Road were not allowed to cross over the main road.

Tom Neely, the town’s director of public transportation and traffic safety, said on Wednesday morning that traffic flow through the intersection the first two days of the program seemed to have improved, although he noted that traffic was still backed up on Sunrise Highway as far west as Hampton Bays at times. The town will not receive actual data on travel times for a couple of days, so the success of the program cannot be determined yet, he said.

“Just based on my visual observations—not any formal or measured timings—the traffic flow along the 39 corridor does seem to be flowing better,” Mr. Neely said. “[But] it’s hard to quantify if there’s been a significant change in the overall travel time.”

Mr. Neely added that data from Tuesday morning may be skewed because a truck broke down just east of the intersection, which caused drivers to merge from the right eastbound lane into the left. The truck had broken down near the Bottle Hampton shopping center at about 7:15 a.m., but traffic appeared to clear up a half hour later, Mr. Neely said, when he went through the intersection himself.

Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman has said that if the county’s data from this week’s program show that travel times on County Road 39 improved by about 10 minutes, then the town will work with county engineers to develop a long-term plan to modify the intersection at Tuckahoe Road. For Mr. Schneiderman, that intersection is particularly important because of Southampton Hospital’s planned eventual move to the Stony Brook Southampton campus, which would bring more traffic, including ambulances.

The supervisor said he discussed the intersection with Bill Hillman, chief engineer at the County Department of Public Works, who drew up a concept design for an underpass at County Road 39. The drawing—which both officials stressed is very preliminary—shows Tuckahoe Road closed off on both sides of County Road 39, as well as several new access points for traffic heading east and west. The underpass would be west of the intersection, where County Road 39 curves to the right, to avoid the expense of having to run the underpass below the Long Island Rail Road tracks.

The plan would also involve opening up what is called North Road, a road just north of the college campus and south of the railroad tracks that is currently closed off. Motorists would be able to access County Road 39 and Tuckahoe Road that way, either by ramps or the underpass, depending on which way they were heading.

Tuckahoe Road north of County Road 39 would be closed to public access, as Mr. Schneiderman said there is an effort by Shinnecock Hills Golf Club to reroute that road, which bisects the golf course, so that it connects to St. Andrews Road instead.

Mr. Hillman said the project would be a $10 million to $15 million endeavor, although there are no discussions yet as to how it could be funded. “From an engineering standpoint, it’s completely realistic,” he said.

“There’s not a whole lot the county can do beyond what has already been done,” he said, referring to the widening of County Road 39 nearly a decade ago.

“The idea’s not so pie-in-the sky,” Mr. Schneiderman added. “The idea would be for it to be large enough to accommodate ambulances and fire trucks, and quickly move people from County Road 39 to the Stony Brook Southampton campus, or to the hospital, in a safe and expedient manner. That’s basically it.”

Mr. Hillman said, though, that if the data from the blinking light program does not show any improvements in traffic, then the intersection will stay the way it is.

“If eliminating the signal at Tuckahoe Road does not make substantial improvements, I think the East End has to live with traffic,” he said. “Extend Sunrise Highway, or live with the traffic.”