The Atlantic Ocean and the sky above it were dull shades of gray as a steady drizzle fell on Monday morning, but with nary a utility pole or wire in sight, spirits were bright among the dignitaries gathered at the area known as the Montauk Gateway.
The gathering, on Montauk Highway near the intersection of Second House Road, was to mark the completion of a project to bury utility lines and remove utility poles at the entrance to Montauk’s downtown, where motorists in East Hampton Town’s easternmost hamlet are greeted with a breathtaking, and now unobstructed, vista of sea, sky, and land.
“This was really the culmination of a dream and vision of Mr. John Keeshan, who’s here with us today, about burying the lines,” Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc said. Mr. Keeshan, a longtime resident and civic activist, was already working with government officials and representatives from the Long Island Power Authority, Verizon, and Cablevision to research the project when he was named the Montauk Chamber of Commerce’s Man of the Year in 2008.
The project gained momentum around five years ago when a group of private property owners along Old Montauk Highway, led by Dan Cahill, organized and funded the burial of utility lines between Davis Drive and Cleveland Drive and began exploring the possibility of burying more of them.
Almost exactly two years ago, Mr. Keeshan, Mr. Van Scoyoc, Mr. Cahill, and Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. were among local and state officials gathering at the same spot to officially announce the plan to bury the lines and remove the poles. Mr. Thiele was also on hand on Monday. “I know that it’s taken some time for that vision to really take hold,” Mr. Van Scoyoc said, but he pointed to Mr. Keeshan’s “perseverance and his inspiration to others” and Mr. Cahill’s leadership on the Old Montauk Highway portion of the project.
The public portion cost approximately $836,000. The town’s ability to fund the work was augmented by a $250,000 New York State grant that Mr. Thiele secured, “which helped us get across the finish line,” Mr. Van Scoyoc said on Monday. That grant was ultimately applied to another project, repair of the Pussy’s Pond bridge on Old Stone Highway in Springs, but per a state recommendation it “freed up that money that we had committed to do this project,” he said.
The project is also intended to safeguard the town’s utility infrastructure by securing it underground, protected from the effects of extreme weather events.
But on Monday, a newly unobstructed view of “The End” dominated discussion at the gathering. “As you come over the crest of this hill, it’s long been an amazing vista,” the supervisor said, “but it was marred by these poles and wires going every which way. Now they’re removed, and it’s just a stunning, stunning view.”
With Reporting by Carissa Katz
