WATCH: Beach Chaos Leads To Safety Concerns On Ocean Parkway

BABYLON, NY— Beachgoers who headed to Babylon town beaches this weekend encountered a chaotic traffic scene. Because of limited capacity at state beaches like Robert Moses due to coronavirus, traffic diverted to Ocean Parkway led to backups of hours, residents reported across social media. Cars parked illegally along Ocean Parkway created an unsafe situation with people trying to cross the parkway to access the beach through the dunes, according to residents who witnessed the scene on Sunday.

Town of Babylon residents reported up to two-hour long drives to get to Overlook, Cedar and Gilgo beaches. Videos of cars parked along the Ocean Parkway shoulders were shared to social media, like this one by Babylon resident Gustave Karagrozis.

Parking on Ocean Parkway is illegal and considered dangerous, with the high speeds of motorists and pedestrians attempting to cross the roadway to access closed beaches.

Babylon Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer told Patch the town is aware of the situation.

“These issues are due to New York State capacity limits at all of our region’s beach facilities due to COVID-19. We are coordinating with our partners in both the New York State Parks and Police departments to remediate these issues, and strictly enforce the no-parking mandate on Ocean Parkway.”

”Tow trucks will be on scene this coming weekend to ensure compliance. We ask our residents to please use common sense when traveling to our beach facilities and avoid taking illegal measures to access them.”