Flashing Light Experiment in Hampton Bays 'A Minor Success'

Laurie Smith-Kalhorn commutes to her job in Southampton Village from Hampton Bays every day and reported this week that the town’s efforts to remedy traffic tie-ups has cut the timing of a portion of her trip by almost two-thirds.

For several weeks the light at the intersection of Canoe Place Road and Montauk Highway has been configured to flash yellow for east/west traffic. The goal of the blinking light program has been to ease traffic congestion during the early morning commute and keep the bulk of traffic on the highway and out of residential neighborhoods.

Whether the commuter nightmare that gave birth to the program continues for Ms. Smith-Kalhorn and myriad other motorists post Labor Day remains to be seen. Southampton Town Police Chief Steven Skrynecki said he plans to assess conditions at the intersection and determine whether to continue the program.

“I have to say there has definitely been improvement and less traffic backed up on the local side roads in the morning. I was skeptical, but it seems to be working,” said Hampton Bays resident Jessica Lennon, who has commuted to work in Southampton Village for 20 years.

Where it normally took Ms. Smith-Kalhorn 40 minutes to get to the village, it took about 25 minutes and some days 20, she said.

“Big improvement. I hope they keep it up,” she said.

Living south of downtown, Ms. Smith-Kalhorn does drive through her neighborhood to get to the highway. She noted that where it was taking as long as 20 minutes to travel Canoe Place Road to the light at the intersection, the pilot program reduced that time to as little as 7 minutes.

“No backup down Canoe Place at all,” she wrote in response to a question on social media. “One day I left at 8, and had a little back up, maybe 10 cars, but it wasn’t bad.”

The blinking lights ran from 5:30 to 7:30 a.m. on weekdays.

“It took them too long to try something, but I hope it continues,” Ms. Smith-Kalhorn said.

Staffing the intersection is the off-season challenge, Chief Skrynecki explained. The program is “manpower intensive,” he said. Traffic control officers need to be at the site by 4:30 a.m. to set up cones, and most of those young, seasonal employees have finished up in the department for the summer. He believes the intersection can be set up and may not need an observer on hand throughout the program, but plans to watch and see this week. If traffic has diminished significantly, the chief said, the program would be discontinued. But, he emphasized, based on the positive feedback he’s received, he’ll bring it back next year.

In the wake of impassioned opposition to a proposed “bypass” in Hampton Bays that would have taken traffic from the terminus of Flanders Road down to the railroad tracks, then east to Springville Road, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman offered an alternative plan to help ease the traffic burden. He directed Chief Skrynecki to petition county and state officials, who have jurisdiction over them, to reconfigure traffic lights at six key intersections during morning commute times. If officials with final jurisdiction over Montauk Highway and County Road 39 agreed, a one-week pilot program would see traffic lights blink yellow from 5 to 7 a.m.

The light at Canoe Place Road on Montauk Highway, as well as at St. Andrew’s Road in Tuckahoe, County Road 39 at Tuckahoe Road in Southampton, Montauk Highway in Water Mill, and Flanders Road at both Long Neck Boulevard and Oak Avenue in Flanders were eyed as potential salves.

Upon deeper consideration, officials decided to try the experiment at one intersection at a time and selected the one at Canoe Place Road, which is at an intersection under county jurisdiction.

The county was amenable to the trial on their roads, but state officials were not.

“Safety is always the top priority of the New York State Department of Transportation,” said Department of Transportation spokesman Stephen Canzoneri. “We have reviewed the Town of Southampton’s request to adjust the traffic signals at four intersections along State Route 24 and State Route 27 to flash mode during peak travel hours and determined that it would not be in the best interests of motorist and pedestrian safety to do so. However, we have adjusted the signal timing at these locations to further expedite traffic flow and reduce congestion.”

The sides of the facing the main roads will stay green longer to better keep traffic moving. Chief Skrynecki said he’s thinking next about asking to have those east-west cycles set longer during the end of the day commute.

The light at Tuckahoe Road and CR 39 in Southampton is also under county control, but the chief explained that particular intersection will need more study before any changes are made.

The project at Canoe Place has shown some promise, he affirmed.

“It wasn’t a giant game changer. In the macro sense of traffic, but it is a micro-change. We were hopeful some of these micro changes would make a difference overall,” the chief said, speaking of the experiment at Canoe Place Road. Police received just one complaint over the course of the program, so, Chief Skrynecki said, “We look at that as a minor success.”

“There’s no silver bullet going to correct it all, there’s just an overabundance of traffic,” he said.