The traffic snarl and its side effects on the South Fork of Long Island have been a longstanding but worsening problem. Various efforts have been mulled or tried to alleviate it, though few would revisit the fateful decision a half century ago not to build a bypass to the sole east-west highway–which is often clogged. To deal with the acute issue of trade and other vehicles seeking to conjure such a bypass by using residential roads, the trick is to find a measure that would deter such maneuvers but doesn’t rely on town police enforcement, which is sparse. I’m focused on putting “humps” in the roads, thus forcing drivers to slow down or choose a different, smoother route (the highway). They’ve been employed in three independent villages within the town of Southampton, including Sag Harbor. Presumably, a lot of pass-through trips*, particularly those made by heavy-duty commercial trucks, would get re-thought. So I framed the matter as a ripe political choice for this November’s election, in the following short letter appearing today in the Southampton Press:
https://www.27east.com/southampton-press/deciding-issue-2396411/
*It’s estimated that as much as half the peak traffic through Southampton in most months is destined for sites east or west of the town.
Tim W. Ferguson 