“If you’re hit by a car at 30 miles an hour, you will live. If you’re hit by a car at 45 miles per hour, you will die,” Barry Liebowitz, M.D., a resident of Long Lane, said at the Aug. 5 East Hampton Town Board meeting.
Dr. Liebowitz spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting, ahead of a presentation by Nancy Marshall, the assistant town attorney, who addressed a recommendation by the Suffolk County Department of Public Works to lower the speed limit on a stretch of Long Lane from 45 to 30 miles per hour.
Two days later, by the end of last Thursday’s meeting, the town board had voted unanimously to pass a resolution agreeing with the county’s recommendation. The speed limit will be reduced from Stephen Hand’s Path for eight-tenths of a mile toward East Hampton Village to the school zone, “in the community of Hardscrabble.”
There are at present three different speed limits on the road: 45 miles per hour from the traffic circle south for nearly a mile, 20 miles per hour through the school zone, and 30 miles per hour elsewhere.
Once a series of administrative hurdles set in motion by the passed resolution are achieved, there will be only two posted speeds on the road, 30 miles per hour and 20 miles per hour (within the school zone, which will see no change), and the New York State Department of Transportation will install new signs.
On the 5th, Ms. Marshall presented the board with correspondence from Charles Bartha, commissioner of the
county’s Department of Public Works, which summarized the results of an extensive traffic study on the road. “As part of our investigation, we reviewed volume data, performed spot speed studies, reviewed crash history data, and utilized expert systems to analyze recommended speed limits along C.R. 59,” or Long Lane, Mr. Bartha wrote to Supervisor Kathee Burke-Gonzalez on July 2.
The raw data was not provided with the correspondence, and it wasn’t clear if the county had studied traffic on the road at the request of the town. Ms. Marshall said the recommendation is supported by Chief Michael Sarlo of the town police and Stephen Lynch, the highway superintendent.
“People get on Long Lane and they see that speed limit sign and it’s just an invitation to step on it,” said Stephen Mahoney, a resident of Long Lane who spoke in support of the reduction. Ms. Burke-Gonzalez said the board had received three letters from other residents of the road supporting the speed limit reduction.
“I think this is part two for public safety of the roundabout, because I do anticipate more folks using that road now without the deadly left turn,” Councilwoman Cate Rogers said.
“Importantly, there’s been a traffic study done here,” Councilman Ian Calder-Piedmonte said. “It’s a well-thought-out plan and not just, ‘It seems like people are going too fast.’ “
Councilman David Lys, the historian of the town board, was also supportive of the proposal, noting the length and straightness of the road. “I believe there used to be horse-and-carriage buggy races in that area.”
