Traffic was in the sights of the Sag Harbor Village Board Tuesday night, as members rejected two proposals to stem the incessant flow and issued a request for more, hoping to bring in some new engineering voices.
Ed Haye, a trustee, said the board had received only those two proposals, which were submitted in May in response to a request in March. “Both were from our incumbent consultants, Nelson Pope & Voorhis and Cameron Engineering,” he noted.
Mr. Haye and other board members made it clear that they had no specific objections to the two firms’ proposals, they were just hoping for broader participation. “We’re hoping to qualify a number of new firms to work with us for both traffic consulting and surveying a variety of issues that we have need for in the village,” Mr. Haye said. “The turnaround for this will be relatively short, three weeks.”
The board expects responses to its new R.F.P. by mid-September, he said, and hopes “to engage sometime this fall, an engineering firm to help us with traffic design for the intersection by Mash Park.”
Mr. Haye is the village’s liaison to the Mashashimuet Park board, which has been talking with county government about the proposed reworking of the intersection at Jermain Avenue, Brick Kiln Road, and Main Street, where traffic is often at a standstill. Jeanne Kane, another member of the village board, has spoken about the project with County Legislator Ann Welker and the Department of Public Works.
“There are problems, obviously,” at the intersection, said Mayor Thomas Gardella during Tuesday’s meeting. “I mean, that’s an understatement. This weekend and in the last couple of weeks, coming out of the village on upper Main Street, I got stopped in front of the Whaling Museum. That’s how bad it is.”
Aidan Corish agreed. “I live on Howard Street, and I couldn’t get out of Howard Street. I turned around and came back,” he told his village board colleagues.
Board members later identified other problem areas, including Union Street, Jermain Avenue, and Sage Street. Motorists trying to avoid the worst of the tie-ups often seek out those streets, which are now becoming as busy as main roads.
Other projects mentioned in the original request for proposals include improving pedestrian and bicycle safety, exploring the feasibility of a roundabout at the three-way intersection mentioned above, and moving the Hampton Jitney stops away from Main Street. Stormwater runoff and the quality of the groundwater will also be challenges for environmental engineers.
