NEWS RELEASE : July 8, 2022
Contact: Jennifer Willmott, Highway Department
(631) 702-2577
“Tough problems, common sense solutions,” is how Southampton Town Highway Superintendent Charles McArdle summarized the results of his department’s efforts to ease morning traffic troubles.
Earlier this year, the Town’s Police Department assigned a part-time Traffic Control Officer near the intersection of Canoe Place Road and Montauk Highway and set the traffic signal there to flash yellow. The effort grew out of a weeklong pilot program inaugurated last summer and conducted at six critical intersections throughout the Town.
However, since June 24, a five-man Highway Department crew based in Hampton Bays has arrived early to set up barrels, cones, and extend the turning lane from Canoe Place Road all the way to the bridge spanning Shinnecock Canal. Workers then take up their positions on foot near the intersection of Newtown Road and Montauk Highway, at the merge lane by Spellman’s Marine.
According to Deputy Highway Superintendent Marc Braeger, the new traffic pattern has vehicles moving smoothly and continuously through the area each weekday from 6am until 9am. Even Sunrise Highway has picked up the pace as well. Improved traffic flow along the two biggest roadways also seems to have reduced some of the pressure on residential side streets, according to reports.
“Commuters were fed-up and looking for some kind of solution,” said McArdle. “Since Highway has taken the lead, we have received numerous calls and emails telling us what a difference it has made for motorists. Some people are even getting to work early.”
The Highway Superintendent concluded by saying he plans to continue the project for the remainder of the summer.
For a full list of services and permits provided by the Highway Department, please visit www.southamptontownny.gov/Highway. Violations, complaints, and other non-emergency requests can be submitted in-person, by phone, and through the Southampton Online Solutions (SOS) portal at https://gis.southamptontownny.gov/SOS/
