L.I. Civic: Traffic Calming, not Road Widening
In March testimony responding to Suffolk County's plan to widen County
Route 16 (Portion Rd.) in Brookhaven, Affiliated Brookhaven Civic Organization
(ABCO) president Connie Kepert said expanding the highway from two to four
lanes would neither improve safety nor ease traffic flow over the
long term. Kepert proposed that the county instead adopt traffic calming
measures like narrow lanes, medians and street trees to reduce speeding.
She also noted the tendency of traffic to fill available road space, and
so recommended smaller intersection improvements over wholesale highway
expansion. She called for clearly-marked bicycle lanes along the road,
and generally called on the county to adopt measures that would reverse,
not exacerbate Suffolk County's high levels of traffic death and injury.
Northern Brookhaven is also facing three major NY State DOT highway
expansion projects (MTR #245)
