Letters

The daily rituals of traffic are becoming a plague on the East End. The “trade parade,” as it is currently known among local residents, is coming to a tipping point. Between the summer influx, traffic is not uncommon among coastal seasonal areas that rely heavily on the service, tourism and trade industries.

Keeping this in mind, that doesn’t mean that mitigation efforts can’t be put into place to return to a quality of life that we all once knew. The residents of Moses Lane and West Prospect Street have a valid grievance [“Neighbors Rebuke Speeding, Scofflaw Motorists Assailing Their Community In Southampton Village,” 27east.com, August 4], as these roads are a prime example of residential side streets being used as cut-throughs during peak hours.

So, what is the solution to traffic mitigation?

During my time as a member of the Village Planning Commission, and now, serving as an elected village trustee, one of my main concerns has been traffic. Earlier this summer, Southampton Village commissioned a traffic study. Once this study comes out, we need direct action. We can’t just put this study into a file that will get laden with dust and forgotten about.

I suspect the report will mention our overburdened infrastructure and the fact that we can’t just lay new roads to build our way out of problems. We need to use our current infrastructure and mitigate it internally.

I stay steadfast in the belief that Southampton Village is a major artery for the East End and it must be kept flowing to keep our community healthy and thriving. In the coming months, I will call on our local elected officials in the town and outlying municipalities to assist with this process and work with us. Working together, we can direct flood mitigation efforts and work diligently to take the traffic issue head on.

Joseph R. McLoughlin

Trustee

Southampton Village