Surge In Fall Traffic Sparks Fury; Residents Pitch Solutions

NORTH FORK, NY — Cars were backed up along Sound Avenue and all surrounding roads Saturday, leaving residents on the North Fork and Riverhead sounding off on social media after they'd sat, stuck in traffic, for lengthy periods — and were left demanding answers.

Traffic inched along Sound Avenue heading east, with all roads connecting with Sound Avenue and Route 105 jammed with cars for miles.

Another beautiful weekend day brought out scores of fun-seekers navigating their way to the North Fork to enjoy pumpkin picking, farm stands, wineries and other autumnal delights. And tempers continued to flare, with residents speaking out about traffic conditions they said were impacting their quality of life, with rides that would normally take 10 minutes lasting an hour or more.

"The traffic is crazy," one woman wrote on Facebook.

"We are staying home," many echoed on social media.

"It's beyond horrible," someone responded on Facebook. "You made a good choice."

"When is it ever going to end?" a frustrated motorist asked.

"I used to live in Mattituck, now I live in Riverhead. But I travel east all the time. And it's not worth it," said Ben Brannon. "Everyone you talk to will say the same thing. You don't go out on weekends. And it's a shame."

Some said the traffic congestion posed safety risks, with emergency vehicles unable to pass through clogged roadways.

Others said that they found beer bottles tossed from cars onto their driveways.

"If you happen to have the misfortune of living on Peconic Bay Boulevard you cannot even get out of your own driveway," one woman wrote.

Others said they are fed up and looking to move to Maine or to other states.

Desperate for answers, some have begun pitching solutions. One resident suggested a toll where the North Fork begins, with residents allowed to continue on for free.

"As soon as a car gets off the expressway charge them $25 at a toll booth," Jeanne Hunter wrote in the comments after a Patch story. "North Fork residents would have a free EZ pass."

Resident Michael Navarra agreed, saying he'd had the same idea a few years back; his plan would have limos paying $100 and buses, $150.

Others suggested a possible pedestrian bridge across Sound Avenue; some have discussed the idea of road widening.

Solutions pitched for years

In past years, lawmakers and community leaders have met to try and vet the issues and find solutions.

In 2018, officials convened at the Southold Town Recreation Center on Peconic Lane in Peconic to discuss the issues and try to offer ideas for possible solutions.

With County Road 48 and Route 25 flooded with cars heading out to enjoy the North Fork, it's not just pumpkin farms or any one business that's sparking the problems, Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said at that meeting and again this year. "It's a volume problem."

Roadways in town including Peconic Bay Boulevard are frequently backed up as traffic congestion woes only continue to increase, he said.

Riverhead Town Police Chief David Hegermiller said Riverhead is the "first choking point" as the cars head east.

Hegermiller agreed during the harvest season, the volume is the issue. "It's like sand in an hourglass; there's only so much you can put through at one time," he said. "There are just too many cars on a too lane highway heading eastbound."

"Everyone is a prisoner on the weekends. You can't go anywhere or leave the house."

Angela Noncarrow, representative for New York State Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo, has suggested maybe residents could have stickers so that they could open thoroughfares such as Peconic Bay Boulevard up at certain times only to Southold Town residents. As it stands, she said, "It's crazy."At peak times, she said, "Everyone is a prisoner on the weekends. You can't go anywhere or leave the house."

Harbes Farm, Hegermiller said in 2018, has parking but the bottom line, he said, is that there is just too much volume; even if cars were able to pull up onto farm fields, it would still cause traffic backup, he said.

Some solutions could lie in parking on the south side with right turns only while exiting, Hegermiller said.

Another suggestion was a pedestrian crossing bridge over Sound Avenue.

Former Southold Town Councilman Bill Ruland said in some areas of the country, looping is used, with no left turns allowed at some times during the day and traffic rerouted to make righthand turns.

At the terminus of the Long Island Expressway, Ruland said, motorists have the choice to go in more than one direction. Many of those, he said, are only interested in reaching the Cross Sound Ferry in Orient; he suggested the possibility of global routing, where people exiting the LIE are encouraged to use one road for through traffic and the other, for local traffic, which "would take some pressure off of Sound Avenue."

Another suggestion was changing the timing of the light at South Jamesport Avenue to allow more through traffic. Hegermiller said the timing on the lights was changed seasonally.

Riverhead Town Councilwoman Catherine Kent thanked the group for including Riverhead in the global discussion. "We need to be proactive and think outside of the box," she said, adding that apps such as Waze creating changing times. "We've heard stories of limos going across farm fields," with traffic even worse during special events, she said.

She referred to a house fire on Main Road in recent years in Jamesport where traffic was backed up in all directions.

Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley said during the fall season, from Labor Day to Columbus Day, traffic is "worse and worse."

As for the idea of making a major road one way during certain times, Flatley said, "I'd have a hard time telling homeowners they'd have to make a right, and go to Mattituck to turn around so they could turn around and go to Riverhead."

At that 2018 meeting, Greenport Village Trustee Mary Bess Phillips said Rocky Point has a bypass. She said since Sound Avenue is designated historic corridor it would be difficult to widen that road and asked if any thought had been given to a bypass.

"The only bypass is dumping it onto Route 25 and that's what they're already doing," Flatley said.

Russell added that some of the farms have sold their development rights so it's not easy to add new parking.

Flatley said although some Strawberry Festival parking — that festival was canceled this year due to the pandemic — has now been moved to Martha Clara it took five or six years to get attendees to change their mindset and accept the notion of buses.

Russell for the most part, scores of people are coming out for a weekend of fun and heading to myriad places.

Shuttles, hop-on, hop-off buses, water taxis and expanded Long Island Rail Road service have also been suggested as ways to ease traffic woes.

At the 2018 meeting, Kent said visitors picking wheelbarrows full of pumpkins won't get on a bus, although buses would work for special events.

"The traffic starts in Wading River," she said.

The group discussed traffic studies, with the last major study being the East End Regional Transportation Study in 2009, a dual-concept for a coordinated and flexible rail and bus network on the East End, prepared by the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center.

John Stype, representative for Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski said another option would be to contact the individuals who run the U.S. Open on the South Fork; he said in the past, before County Road 39 was widened, four lanes were created using cones.

A temporary LIRR station was also created at Southampton College for the U.S. Open, at the spot where one formerly existed; a pedestrian bridge was also created for the event, some said.

State police at the forum said in the past, extra lanes were created in Westhampton and Southampton for a past U.S. Open event, but that was not feasible on Sound Avenue because those roads had shoulders to create a third reversible lane.

William Hillman, Chief Engineer, Suffolk County Department of Public Works, said the U.S. Open and the current North Fork traffic situation were "apples and oranges."

Others agreed that the U.S. Open, also canceled this year due to the pandemic, is a specific, ticketed event with directions, a train schedule and maps, where motorists are not just heading out on a whim.

Hillman said the South Fork has been dealing with similar issues for years. "All the solutions that have been proposed, have been proposed on the South Fork as well," he said.

However, Hillman said, mass transit, while it may have value to some extent, won't solve the problem.

"You have to make some decisions today that will take a long time to come to fruition but if those are made and the community embraces them and sees the potential, then you might not find yourself in the same position the South Fork is in right now," Hillman said.

Before County Road 39 was widened in Southampton, Hillman said kids were waiting in school buses for an hour and a half, while doctors and nurses were resigning from businesses because the traffic was so bad, he said.

In the 1970s, a proposal existed to extend Sunrise Highway, he said.

His idea for the North Fork would be to extend the four-lane section of County Road 48 west to the LIE. "You need some mechanism for long transport," he said, in addition to solutions including shuttles and water taxis. "If this community were willing to bite the bullet and do some sort of extension, and make some connection to the expressway, the North Fork would outpace the South Fork," Hillman said.

Russell said in the 1970s it was a popular idea to extend the LIE to Mattituck. But sentiments have changed, he said. "Let's be honest, it's a two lane road that kept Southold rural."

At the 2018 meeting, Russell agreed any solution that would be effective would be unpleasant to some and people would have to make choices. "The larger issue won't be solved without dramatic changes that won't go over so well, with local residents having to choose the lesser of two evils. They'd probably choose traffic over a four-lane highway," Russell said.

Russell said at that meeting that long term solutions and expensive studies were good but if the ideas were not implemented, nothing would come to fruition. The bottom line, the supervisor said, is that Southold needs answers sooner than later.

One myth, he said, "is that businesses are living on tourism." The fact is, businesses to the east "are getting choked" by the traffic to the west. "Maybe a self-imposed, limited ban on limos and buses," at popular businesses such as U pick operations, wineries and others that spark traffic, could be an answer, Russell said.

Phillips agreed and said those businesses that draw large crowds are "feeling pressure from fellow businesses on the North Fork;" those operations should be made to understand the negative impact that their businesses are having on those struggling to survive when their clientele can't get past the traffic to head east and frequent their establishments.

Pandemic traffic woes

Russell has explained that this year's uptick in traffic and sheer volume of vehicles has a lot to do with the pandemic — and, he said, town officials are working hard to keep cars moving and residents safe.

There is regular coordination between Flatley and Hegermiller, he said.

"There are two particular bottlenecks on Sound Avenue. One is in Jamesport and the other is in Laurel. Both locations have a police presence to make sure traffic moves as quickly as possible but, given the volume, it is a difficult task," Russell said.

In Southold, any costs associated with personnel from the police departments, needed to handle the barrage of traffic, gets calculated and billed back to businesses generating crowds in those areas, he said.

Locals have even dubbed the congestion "pumpkin traffic," due to the influx of families heading east on the hunt for the perfect gourd.

Russell said traffic issues aren't generated by any one business.

"While those two locations do make traffic management more difficult, people need to keep in mind that a large volume of traffic isn't created by them but by many of the attractions in Southold," he said. "It is not surprising that there seems to me more of an interest in coming. People just endured several months of an essential lockdown of entertainment opportunities and have been, undoubtedly, getting a little stir-crazy. Add to that, just about every publication known to man run articles highlighting the North Fork as the place to visit."

Flatley said he is "not sure if there is such a dramatic increase from the past or not, but the traffic volume has been heavy so far, fueled by the nice weather we have had on these past couple weekends."

Flatley added: "The two Harbes' properties on Sound Avenue have continued to be a chokepoint for traffic traveling to the North Fork and both locations continue to be busy, even with their attempts to limit their capacity levels."

Hegermiller and he have met several times to coordinate their response to the traffic issues and a traffic plan to best address "the problem locations," Flatley said. "We have also met with the Harbes family to discuss and go over the governor's guidelines on agri-tourism during this pandemic."

Flatley added: "The wineries on the North Fork continue to be a destination and we are at peak travel time now," he said. "I think a lot of the winery visitors also view these venues as being safer, as they are outside and afford them the ability to social distance while enjoying themselves. This winery traffic, coupled with the farm locations, definitely makes it challenging."

Flatley said police have not seen any significant increase in crashes or accidents on the fall weekends, for the most part.

"We have been running an extra detail of four officers each weekend to supplement our patrol units in an attempt to move traffic through these chokepoints," he said.

Hegermiller also discussed the traffic issue: "I don't know that it is worse than in other years. It does seem that that the season/traffic did start earlier than in the past," he said. "That coupled with the beautiful weather that we have been having on the weekends may make it seem worse. Our daily traffic activity doesn't seem any different than in years' past. If I agreed with your statement, I would say that maybe more people are choosing outdoor activities during the pandemic."

Flatley and he, Hegermiller said, "have been working tirelessly on the seasonal traffic issue for the last couple years, but you must realize that like sand in an hourglass, there is a given flow rate to a two-lane road. Once you overload it with vehicles and you have to stop for turning vehicles, pedestrians crossing, a traffic light or stop sign, traffic builds pretty quickly. We have had limited success in providing a turn lane on Sound Avenue and providing staffed posts at given locations to override traffic control devices. We have also worked with our farmers; some have cut capacity by reducing parking. That may not be advantageous, since once the lots close motorists slow down because they don't know where to go. Some have also made it a better value to come Monday through Friday than to come on the weekends."

Hegermiller discussed a possible way to resolve the problem: "There is a solution, more or bigger roads, but no one wants that," he said. "I do wonder why you don't hear the same complaining from the South Fork where can easily take you an extremely long time to get around."