Residents Speak: Safety Suggestions for Main Street, Neighboring Roads

With another fatality at the intersection of Main Street and Lawrence Avenue back in late February, concerned residents have sent in numerous emails with traffic suggestions, Main Street safety pleas and more. Here are two letters from your neighbors. Please feel free to send your letters to peter.verry@patch.com.

Route 25 (Main Street), yes a NY State Route, designated a "Main Street,” is sort of a contradiction in terms. This road hardly reflects what someone imagines "Main Street Any-town, America,” might look like (not exactly a Norman Rockwell).

For starters, this road is used as a major east-west thoroughfare, with huge volumes of traffic, which alone is intimidating (a problem that was supposed to be solved with the Smithtown Bypass). To add to it, the fact that there is no margin of error, lanes are tight, catch basin grates at the curbs are low (drivers try to avoid these grates), and you are only a couple of feet from pedestrian traffic – go ahead and stand on the sidewalk, you may loose your hat from the breeze generated by the speeding cars. Shopping in our quaint town is like going for a stroll on the shoulder of the L.I.E.

Drivers are always faster than the speed limit leaving few options when a left turner blocks the lane, or someone opens a driver's door (where parking is allowed), contributing to all sorts of surprise, erratic, lane changes, and evasive maneuvers.   

I can safely say that the only time my family “strolls the avenue” is the days Main Street is closed to vehicular traffic (I think twice).

My suggestion is to strictly enforce an even lower speed limit to calm traffic. And while we are on the subject, try to do 40 mph (posted) on Route 25 east of Route 111, or even on Route 111 north or southbound. You'll get run off the road. And God forbid you come to a complete stop on Mount Pleasant Road (quickly becoming the "alternate" to Route 111).

Drivers must always remember what a momentary lapse of good judgment may lead too because sadly good judgment seems to be the exception these days. 

–Joseph Magliato

I have two ideas for a specific traffic fix.

Any car going down Edgewater where it intersects Main Street (Route 25) in Smithtown finds it extremely hard to gauge or see the traffic going east on 25 – it's a dangerous merge. During rush hours it can be downright scary. It's possible to see the traffic, but a blind side is created that forces drivers to twist and take chances (see map in photo/video gallery).

This could easily be remedied by putting up a convex mirror at that intersection angled toward Edgewater that reflects eastbound traffic. Many places elsewhere do this. Erecting such a sign would be cheap and easy to do. Few Smithtown intersections pose such a problematic situation. I hope you agree. 

On another note, since traffic through Smithtown continues to be horrendous, dangerous, frustrating, bad for business, and wastes energy and time, why not forbid making turns (excepting traffic-signaled turning options) against traffic on Main Street on Monday - Friday between 7-9 am and 4-7 pm? 

I'm sure some people would object to this, but it will be for a much greater good. Anyone who knows the area and needs to go somewhere in town can easily find a routing workaround during restricted turn hours.

These are both common sense solutions to serious, increasing local traffic problems. Many others probably exist out there. It'd be nice to have a public hearing on them.  Such nearly cost-free traffic management options through Smithtown on 25 should be a top priority for all town planners.

Thanks for your attention.

–Paul B. Wiener