Commuters Frustrated By Traffic Delays At Start Of U.S. Open

Commuters traveling into, out of and through Southampton Town have described the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club with one word: frustrating.

On Monday, the first practice day of the major golf tournament at the club, the snail-like traffic was all the patrons could talk about at Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton Village, Library Director Liz Burns recalled. Her employees felt the burden, too.

“Employees are definitely impacted, no question,” Ms. Burns said. “Both those who live as close as Hampton Bays and those who live farther west.”

But she noted that the evening traffic was even worse.

When it was time to wrap up for the day on Monday, Ms. Burns said her employees didn’t know what to do. There was bumper-to-bumper traffic surrounding the library building, both on Coopers Farm Road and Windmill Lane.

The impacts continued to roll into Tuesday: Foot traffic in the building was much lighter, and she got word that the library’s book deliveries through a courier service with the Suffolk Cooperative Library System in Bellport would be disrupted.

“Due to the golf traffic, there is a chance they will be canceling the deliveries to the East End,” Ms. Burns said. “At best, we will get the deliveries later in the day than usual.”

As Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman closed Tuesday night’s Town Board meeting, he pledged to work with state and county officials to ease the traffic burden on the region for the rest of the week.

“It seemed like the morning was getting better, but the afternoon was still a problem,” said Mr. Schneiderman, reflecting on Tuesday’s traffic.

Several commuters reported standstills and gridlock throughout Southampton Village on Monday and Tuesday nights. One driver, Miles Wortman, said it took him more than an hour to get off Moses Lane in Southampton Village to head west on County Road 39 during the Tuesday evening commute.

Practice rounds for the Open, expected to draw tens of thousands of people to the East End, began on Monday morning and ran through Wednesday. The tournament itself goes from Thursday through Sunday.

Mr. Schneiderman said he would work to ease the traffic as the excitement around pro golfers, like Tiger Woods, continued to skyrocket. “We are expecting the crowd to grow each day,” he said.

Tom Neely, the town’s director of public transportation and traffic safety, said he noticed an “ironic” turn of events during the Monday morning commute: Most people chose to avoid County Road 39, which is known to be clogged on weekday mornings, which sent the bulk of the traffic to secondary roads. On Monday morning, he noted, motorists reported the least amount of traffic on County Road 39.

Instead, most of the traffic appeared to be on Flanders Road coming south from Riverhead and on Montauk Highway, Mr. Neely said, which created a backup extending west beyond Hampton Bays.

In a phone interview on Monday morning from the Open grounds, as he stood next to Town Police Chief Steven Skrynecki, Mr. Schneiderman said he heard reports that it took nearly two hours for some people to get to the golf club from Riverhead. “We’re looking at what’s causing the backup,” he added.

Additional traffic signals were set to blink yellow during the Tuesday morning commute. In addition to the temporary yellow blinking light on County Road 39 at Shrubland Road—where Suffolk County Police, with the ability to control the light, were stationed—and the traffic light at the Tuckahoe Road near the course intersection completely turned off, officials decided to blink more traffic lights to keep cars moving. On Montauk Highway, blinking lights were turned on at the St. Andrews Road intersection and the Tuckahoe Road intersection.

Various roads surrounding County Road 39 were closed ahead of the Open to limit the number of cars turning onto the main east-west vessel that cuts through the Hamptons.

Mr. Neely and Mr. Schneiderman both noted that there is typically heavy traffic headed eastbound on weekdays and said the increase in volume on Monday was similar to what was expected heading into the week of the U.S. Open.

“Overall, I think it went pretty well,” Mr. Schneiderman said on Monday afternoon.

“The first day, there is always a few little things,” Mr. Neely said. “But we are making a few little adjustments tomorrow.”

Southampton Village Police Detective Sergeant Herman Lamison said Wednesday morning that on Tuesday night it was taking drivers an hour to get from the movie theater on Hill Street to the St. Andrews Road intersection. So his department decided to try a different strategy: redirecting drivers up Coopers Farm Road in Southampton. “We’re trying to ease congestion as much as possible.” he said.

He added that he suspects that some of the traffic is due to the closure of Sebonack Road, and compounded by the typical heavy summer traffic.

“There’s really no traffic plan, per se,” Det. Sgt. Lamison said at the time.

But he later denied saying that there was no plan, saying, “all the departments are working together to ease the congestion.”

Mr. Neely pointed out that the shuttle services from the Hampton Classic in Bridgehampton, Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton, and Agawam Park in Southampton Village appeared to be effective. He said he received reports on Monday morning that the parking lots in Westhampton and Bridgehampton were filling up quickly. And he personally used the Southampton Village shuttle to get to the Open himself.

“That one seems to be working pretty well,” Mr. Neely said. “That’s how I’m going to be getting to and from the course every day this week.”

But the strategy didn’t come without its hiccups.

Like Ms. Burns at the Rogers Memorial Library, Don Sullivan, the owner of the Southampton Publick House in the village, said on Tuesday afternoon that he heard a lot of complaints about the traffic from his customers—especially about the congestion the night before. “Last night—it was just a disaster,” he said on Tuesday.

However, the volume of people in the area wasn’t all bad news for Mr. Sullivan: “Business is up,” he noted.

In Hampton Bays, Schools Superintendent Lars Clemenson sent a reminder to parents on Monday morning through the district’s Facebook page to be patient about delayed buses because of the impending traffic. Students are taking Regents exams all week, beginning with English on Tuesday.

“The U.S. Open has all eyes on the East End (and seemingly all cars!),” Mr. Clemensen warned the school community on Monday. “Without question, traffic will be a headache tomorrow.”

The testing went seamlessly on Tuesday, Mr. Clemensen reflected later that day. He noted that most of his teachers live west of the school and are fluent with navigating the trade parade.

They did encounter one small road block, however. Mr. Clemensen said the Waze app, a GPS turn-by-turn navigator that works with user-submitted travel times and route details, was sending many drivers headed to the Open down the same secondary roads his teachers frequent to avoid traffic.

The best way to travel this week, it seems, is on the Long Island Rail Road.

As the LIRR officials prepared for the Open, between five to 10 extra express trains per day were added to the Montauk Branch to bring people to the massive event. They said the LIRR was expecting about 2,000 customers per day on Monday and Tuesday; after that the number of travelers was expected to grow to about 9,000 customers per day through Sunday.

Councilwoman Julie Lofstad of Hampton Bays was one of those customers. She said she is using the train to get to Town Hall this week. “I took the train and walked the last mile,” Ms. Lofstad noted.

LIRR President Phillip Eng agreed in a statement that public transportation would be critical to take advantage of this week.

“Like every big event in our region—whether it’s a concert, or a baseball, basketball, or hockey game—the LIRR is simply one of the best ways to get to and from the venue if you want to avoid traffic congestion,” LIRR President Phillip Eng said. “Quite frankly, without mass transit supporting this event, the U.S. Open Championship would not be able to take place on our beautiful East End.

“We encourage spectators to take advantage of the robust service plan we have in place to accommodate fans who want to enjoy the action.”