Clearing a Path

In 2006, an innovative approach was implemented to alleviate the repugnant traffic that commuters faced while heading east in the morning to Southampton and beyond. It became known as “Cops and Cones,” an apt description for a program that used traffic cones and police officers to transform the left turning lane of County Road 39 into a continuous second eastbound lane for a few hours on workday mornings. The successful program cut commute times by half or more for the “trade parade” and others on both County Road 39 and the parallel Montauk Highway.

Cops and Cones was only seasonal and was canceled on days with inclement weather, but when it was operating, the difference in commute times, predictability and quality of life for workers was night and day.

Then, in fall 2007, after years in the making, work began to permanently add a second eastbound lane to County Road 39 by widening the roadway. The new 4.5-mile lane opened in April 2008. The effect on traffic was profound, and the relief lasted for years. In a huge boon for the region, the more tolerable commute meant businesses and institutions had much better luck hiring and retaining workers, who were already being priced out of the local housing market and forced to commute from neighborhoods to the west.

Unfortunately, the bottleneck that was formerly at the eastern terminus of Sunrise Highway, near what was then the Lobster Inn, moved farther eastward. Traffic was now merging into a single eastbound lane to the east of North Sea Road — and that’s where the bottleneck relocated.

After a years-long delay, County Road 39A, the 1.5-mile stretch between North Sea Road and Montauk Highway, got a second eastbound lane in spring 2013. It helped traffic flow, but much less so than anticipated. In the five years since the original widening project was completed, an increase in the volume of cars on the road ate up all that extra capacity, and the 2013 project could only do so much about it.

As development accelerated on the South Fork, there was more demand for both blue collar and white collar workers, which contributed to more cars on County Road 39 and Montauk Highway. At the same time, that development edged out working class and middle class families and young people, which led to workers coming from farther and farther away. The proverbial candle burned at both ends.

Commuting to Southampton and points east is once again a slog, and the return home in the evening is no better. Even the rise of remote work during the pandemic couldn’t keep enough cars off the road to offer significant relief. The South Fork Commuter Connection trains and shuttles are underused, due in large part to the infrequency of the schedule, especially for anyone coming from farther west than Hampton Bays.

The widening of County Road 39 and 39A took the cooperation of town government, the town’s police force, the county and the state. It was the kind of great achievement that can only happen when officials on all levels recognize the need to make it a priority.

That kind of cooperation is required again, and urgently.

Southampton Town Highway Superintendent Charles McArdle has implemented a blinking light program — a flashing yellow light during heavy traffic hours, rather than a traffic light cycling red, yellow and green — that has experienced fits and starts because of a breakdown in cooperation that, it appears, he holds no blame for himself.

Meanwhile, in Southampton Village, Mayor Jesse Warren is instituting a pilot program to keep vehicles on main arteries and off side streets, where they create a nuisance for residents and potentially cause more traffic delays when they rejoin the main arteries. He’s also working to coordinate with county and town officials to tackle County Road 39 traffic and seeking a traffic study from Hampton Bays to Water Mill.

Not every idea will be viable, and not everything that’s tried will be successful — but it’s time to think outside the box and experiment again. Cops and Cones was, once, just an idea, and it made a world of difference. McArdle and Warren are willing to try — which is more than can be said for others who need to be partners in finding solutions. Those who won’t commit to joining the effort must at least decide not to be a roadblock to potential answers.