Opinion: Should there be a $25 Summer Season Zone Pricing Charge To Enter Montauk?

Weekend traffic on the Napeague stretch of NY State Route 27 can get dicey during the summer season. With many sight-seeing day trippers heading out to “the end” of Long Island the traffic seems to be getting worse each year with the exhaust from cars perhaps causing environmental damage.

The decision makers of Manhattan used similar conditions to create “Zone Pricing,” to discourage car use in the most car crowded sections of the city. Why not use the same idea to spare Montauk from pollution, and continuous summer car congestion.

Of course tax paying, land owning and all full time citizens would be excluded from any fee’s that can be electronically siphoned the way the city does on on those bridges and tunnels all Long Islanders have to pay to leave the island daily all year round . Why should the residents of East Hampton, specifically Montauk not have the same opportunity to raise funds to maintain road safety and renew infrastructure not to mention maintain the beaches?

Of course there will be legal challenges but the end result may be worth the challenge. Montauk was always proud that it does not have green and red traffic lights in the hamlet. Without some sort of action how much longer will that exist. Long Beach charges for folks to access their beaches even by foot.

The time has come to realize continuous car usage of Montauk roads due to the growing day trippers heading to Montauk to “check it out,” must be addressed before it paralyzes everything east of Amagansett.

I am curious to hear what the folks who live in East Hampton think of course I believe I have an idea what all visitors will think. Perhaps the same as I feel about “zone pricing” in Manhattan.