Southampton Town Begins Taking Steps To Create Additional Bike Trails In Hampton Bays

The Town of Southampton was awarded a $755,709 federal grant administered by the state in May to create bike trails in Hampton Bays — and now the town is ready to start taking steps to put the money to work.

The grant was awarded to the town for the creation of a bike lane and multi-use path connecting Good Ground and Red Creek parks in Hampton Bays.

The trail will run north through the trees from Good Ground Park before connecting to Squiretown Road. From there, a bike lane will be created on Squiretown Road that will go under Sunrise Highway, onto Old Riverhead Road and then to Red Creek Park.

The total cost of the project is approximately $945,000, of which the town will be required to pay the remaining 20 percent, or $189,000.

Tom Neely, the town’s director of public transportation and traffic safety, said on Tuesday that he and his team are getting ready to issue a request for proposals to find an engineering firm to work with the town and community to design the plans.

“We’ve done the concept work. We’ve done the estimates. Now we have to hire an engineering firm to do the detailed plans,” he said.

The Town Board unanimously approved a resolution on Tuesday to accept the TAP grant and authorize Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman to sign all documents associated with the grant.

The idea for the roughly half-mile multi-use path and 1.3-mile bike lane along Squiretown and Old Riverhead roads was spawned when a bike committee came out of discussions with Hampton Bays residents and civic groups.

Up until 2011, the town had a biking committee, according to Mr. Neely, that was in place to recommend where more bike routes and bike lanes could be placed. But the committee has not been active since then.

The project was originally expected to be completed by fall 2020, which Mr. Neely said is still possible.

“If we keep things moving and don’t run into any obstacles, that’s possible,” he said. “I think fall of 2020 is doable.”