County Officials Won't Remove Guardrails On Long Beach Road, But Suggest Road Redesign Instead

Residents of Sag Harbor, North Haven, Noyac and Bay Point did not find the solution they were looking for at a meeting Tuesday night about guardrails that were installed on Long Beach Road in June.

Instead of hearing from officials from the Suffolk County Department of Public Works that the guardrails would be removed in light of residents’ concerns about safety and aesthetics, they were repeatedly told that the rails are here to stay unless some major changes are made to Long Beach Road.

“Removing the guardrail and leaving the roadway in its present condition is not an option,” said Bill Hillman, the DPW’s chief engineer. “We’re just not going to remove the guardrail. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I’m the one who makes the decision.

“In my [opinion], with almost 30 years of professional experience … it’s a safer roadway with the guardrail,” he continued.

Mr. Hillman noted that thousands of cars drive along Long Beach Road every week, which means thousands of opportunities for at least one to veer off the road at any given time. He added that most motorists go well over the posted 40-mph speed limit, and that if they ever lost control of their vehicles, they could veer into the Noyac Bay or Big Narrows and possibly drown. The guardrails are there to prevent that.

North Haven resident April Gornik, who spearheaded a Change.org petition with Sag Harbor resident James Perry that brought about the meeting called by County Legislator Jay Schneiderman, disputed Mr. Hillman’s claims. She said that drivers now travel significantly faster than they did before the guardrails were installed, posing an even bigger threat to pedestrians and cyclists, as they could be pinned against a rail if struck by a vehicle.

“I don’t want to insult the Highway Department’s good intentions,” Ms. Gornik said, “[but] most people have said to me, ‘Now cars are going to go faster.’ There’s a visual impact.”

Mr. Hillman did offer to meet at a middle ground with residents. Bouncing off a suggestion by State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. at the meeting, that officials look further into traffic-calming measures for the corridor connecting North Haven to Noyac, Mr. Hillman floated the idea of a complete redesign of the roadway—which would possibly involve removing the guardrails if the road were deemed safer as a result.

Residents tossed around the ideas of rumble strips or raised crosswalks to calm traffic, but Mr. Hillman said slowing motorists wouldn’t be enough. “There’s no silver bullet. There’s no one thing we could do to address the issue. It takes a holistic approach,” he said.

A redesign, though, would not only take time to implement, it would also cost the county a big chunk of change. The county already invested $300,000 into installing the guardrails, which came after the DPW surveyed Long Beach Road and concluded that it met guidelines set by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials that call for installing them.

The Noyac Citizens Advisory Committee had requested them last year, and those community members have been silent as others fight to remove them.

To alleviate costs and make the possibility of a redesign more realistic, North Haven Village Mayor Jeff Sander suggested that the county hire a consultant to assess the condition of the road. “Then we could take that and perhaps fight for the funds to do a complete redesign,” he said.

Mr. Schneiderman agreed with Mr. Sander’s proposal and called the meeting to an end after almost two hours. He said he intended to see if county funds are available to hire a consultant this year. If not, the legislator said there should be some money available in January.

Noyac resident Maryann Lucas, however, was not a fan of a total redesign idea, using Southampton Town’s new traffic pattern in front of Cromer’s Market and the Whalebone General Store on Noyac Road as an example of what she would not like to see on Long Beach Road.

“Could we kind of love it as it is and keep it simple?” she asked.

But should most community members feel the same as Ms. Lucas and not want to go through with a redesign, Mr. Schneiderman presented one more solution: Since Long Beach Road is managed by the county and subject to whatever changes the DPW wants to make—with an “up-island mentality,” as Mr. Schneiderman put it—the county could offer to give the roadway to Southampton Town if residents preferred a more local steward, although that would also involve a lot of liability. Mr. Schneiderman pointed out, though, that Noyac Road was once a county road, so the idea would not be unprecedented.

Before filing out of North Haven Village Hall, the county officials stressed that they see why residents are concerned, but that for now the guardrails make Long Beach Road much safer than it was before.

Mr. Thiele added that he will commit to working with State Senator Kenneth P. LaValle on securing money from the state to help fund any changes to the road. As a user of the corridor himself, he agreed that something needs to be done. “There are parts of this that didn’t feel safe to me then and don’t feel safe to me now,” he said.