East Hampton Town needs a traffic commission. They do it on Nantucket. There, a traffic safety work group — including the police chief, public works boss, fire chief, and transportation-program manager — convenes regularly to address signage, crosswalks, and the like, as well as to review residents’ formal requests for traffic-calming and speed-reduction measures. Speed bumps and striping, for example, are voted on and then installed strictly between Sept. 1 and mid-June. As they know on Nantucket, the off-season is the best moment for authorities to address summer’s dangerous traffic, and it’s time for something similar here.
This isn’t a criticism of the town Highway Department, which does great and noble work, but a call for a broader approach. As it stands, speed-reduction measures are done piecemeal, here and there, as seen on La Forest Road in village jurisdiction or across the Southampton line in Sagaponack — because authority over the roads is split between municipalities. Action is needed across the entire Town of East Hampton to address the ever-increasing pressure on our roadways, from Montauk Point all the way to Town Line Road.
Reluctance to construct speed bumps often has to do with concerns about noise, possible damage to vehicles, and issues with snowplows; it’s time for a townwide work group to set priorities and rationalize who gets them and who doesn’t.
An investigation into the aforementioned striping, as an alternative to speed bumps and humps, could also be worthwhile. Inexpensive and not necessarily permanent, striping is the addition of lines to visually narrow a roadway (a so-called “road diet”) or add a painted median (or “ghost island”) to reduce a road’s perceived lane width and encourage drivers to slow down.
With digital apps and maps sending more and more drivers off the main roads, formerly sleepy streets have become speedways, but it doesn’t have to be like this. Let’s come together to take action.