Jammed Up

Much credit should go to Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman and Police Chief Steven Skrynecki for doggedly attempting to untangle a Gordian knot: the intractable issue of South Fork traffic congestion.

It affects everyone, in both East Hampton and Southampton towns, plus a whole lot of others coming to the region for work or play. It’s clearly the result of the volume of vehicles, particularly at key times, and limited routes — just three total lanes crossing the Shinnecock Canal in either direction, and eventually just one east-west corridor. But there’s a nagging suspicion that there must be something that can be done to … organize it? scurry it along?

Enter Mr. Schneiderman and Chief Skrynecki, whose options are limited by the fact that nearly every level of government — state, county, town and village — has a hand in the road system, and thus must agree to any innovative ideas. It’s a hard sell, particularly with the state, which, in the name of maintaining safety, balks at any change to the status quo. It means temporary measures get swamped in red tape and dragged down.

So what Southampton Town officials accomplished in late summer is modest but, considering the challenges, remarkable. It’s also instructive.

Anecdotally, merely changing the light at Canoe Place Road and Montauk Highway, on the west side of the Shinnecock Canal in Hampton Bays, to blinking yellow for two hours early in the morning was enough to ease the commute. “I was skeptical, but it seems to be working,” summed up one Hampton Bays commuter last week. The problem, as Chief Skrynecki pointed out, that manning the intersection with a police officer and setting up cones to limit access from Canoe Place Road isn’t particularly cost-effective for what he deemed “a minor success.” However, it’s valuable in another sense: It shows that even small changes can have an outsized impact on the bigger problem.

There are bigger fish to fry. A few key intersections along Montauk Highway and County Road 39 are under the aegis of the state and county, and while Suffolk County officials are willing to talk, so far the state has not been.

Chief Skrynecki’s point, that “no silver bullet [is] going to correct it all,” since an overabundance of vehicular traffic is the root cause, is certainly true — but there are other, more important takeaways. First, simple, coordinated changes might help a great deal, if all the stakeholders can come to the table with an open mind (and, in some cases, open wallets). Second, the unique geography is a challenge, but there are solutions — the only challenge is figuring out how to enact them safely and affordably.

Finally, there are other parts of the equation to consider. The Commuter Connection has returned, giving many drivers a cheap and convenient public transportation alternative. Perhaps there are other ambitious ideas worth considering: How about congestion pricing, with E-Z Pass readers on the canal bridges, to encourage staggered commute times? And what about the massive jams that result from an untimely serious accident on a main corridor, for which no real strategy currently exists?

In the end, there is a bigger conversation to have, among state, county and local officials. Have it. Because this is no longer a problem with no solution — it’s a matter of will.