Mayor: Another Lighted Crosswalk Will Be Installed By Spring

East Hampton Village is planning for another lighted crosswalk.

The state installed two on Main Street last year (Main Street is part of the state-owned Montauk Highway) and village officials said their success spurred them to expand on them.

Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. said lights will be installed at the existing crosswalk on Newtown Lane, in front of Sam's restaurant and Scoop.

"We think it's a success," Rickenbach said, though he acknowledged that, "Some folks are still on a learning curve."

When pedestrians want to cross, they have to press a button that turn on the lights, which are on the ground and on a raised sign on the sidewalk to alert drivers.

With $80,000 set aside in the budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year, just beginning, the mayor hopes to have the project finished by spring of 2014. The bidding process will start in the fall.

Police Chief Jerry Larsen said he is in favor of the project because the ones on Main Street are working well. He said so far this summer there have been no accidents in the crosswalks.

Newtown Lane, like Main Street, is a busy street with two lanes in each direction. Larsen said the line of sight for drivers is diminished, but that lights on the crosswalk, especially at night, help draw drivers' attention that there are pedestrians trying to get across.

There is some discussion of a crosswalk being created in front of Guild Hall and the East Hampton Library, further west on Main Street.

Rickenbach said Assemblyman Fred Thiele approached the village after receiving a letter from a constituent. "We have no problem if the state wants to examine the potentiality," he said, but he has asked the the state engineers work with the village before making any decisions because of the impact a crosswalk may have to traffic in that area.

The police chief said he is against a crosswalk in that location. There have been no pedestrian accidents there, he said, adding that having a crosswalk without a traffic light can often be more problematic than having nothing at all. He said he is not in favor of a traffic light there either.

"Lots of times crosswalks give me a false sense of safety and security," he said. "People walk out into the cross out and move off the curb without looking. That's not how they are supposed to be used."