Enough already. Let’s do something about the traffic problem east of the Shinnecock Canal.
The other night, at about 6 p.m., I was one of the lucky ones traveling on County Road 39 going east from a shopping trip in Westhampton. Gee, what happened to the traffic in the other direction? There was no one going the other way. Where were are all the workers, service people and work vehicles that usually fill the westbound lanes at this time?
Aha, there they were — just west of the golf course at Tuckahoe Road, behind an emergency vehicle and cars in the middle of the road. They stretched back as far as I could see at my turnoff on North Sea Road. They were backed up on North Sea Road and even on North Sea-Mecox Road.
If a similar event should happen — and it will for sure, when there is a hurricane — it would be a major disaster, not just an inconvenience for thousands of people. We cannot ignore this obvious and growing problem.
A possible solution has been in existence for many years: mass transit for the bulk of the traffic on our roads. Every morning, including Sundays, our community employs hundreds of workers who come to work — one to a car — and spread out over the East End. At night they go home — one to a car — and flood the westbound lanes.
Mass transit is the answer. We need parking lots west of the canal where eastbound workers can park and then get onto a fleet of buses, and trains, on a schedule to be developed, to go farther east, and to return them westbound to the parking lots. Service vehicles with equipment needed for their work will require special permits to cross the canal.
As the residents of the towns will benefit from less congested roads, the cost of the parking lots, the buses and the maintenance thereof should be paid for by the homeowners of the towns. We are the ones who benefit from the workers who spend hours on the roads to get here, and we should help in solving this problem.
I am sure there will be many obstacles to overcome and questions to be asked in trying to implement such a system, but mass transit will work and will keep the roads open and safer.
Howard and Judi Roth
Southampton
Let It Play OutMy response, Harry Mainzer, to your argument that Pete Hegseth is unqualified for nomination and confirmation as secretary of defense is: Let the process play out [“Kakistocracy,” Letters, December 19]. My disagreement with you is primarily with the faceless, anonymous...
Reap JoyI immersed myself in the Hamptons Doc Fest this December, both as a volunteer and a filmgoer. I hadn’t attended more than a handful of films over the festival’s history, now in its 17th year; however, my recent involvement electrified...
Unprofessional TiradeIn Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” Queen Gertrude famously observes, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks,” suggesting that overly forceful denials often reveal a lack of sincerity. This sentiment captures the debacle at the December 12 Southampton Village Board meeting, where Trustee...
A Safer WorldThomas Jones’s letter, “A Safer World” [December 19], prompted me to write this letter. Mr. Jones crows about Donald Trump’s leadership. He says Trump’s leadership will make the world safer. I would like to see President-elect Trump show some leadership...
FalsehoodsThe recent falsehoods and attacks by certain Hampton Bays community members in The Southampton Press Letters to the Editor section needs to be called out and corrected. I was called out by name by several community members. The Southampton Press...
The Twilight ZoneOn January 20, a draft-dodging “patriot” who has already spit on the U.S. Constitution by trying to overturn a free and fair election and mobilizing a violent mob to attack our Capitol will put his left hand on a Bible,...
Unfair AttacksHow unfortunate it is that one of the most beloved citizens of our village is under attack, in Letters to the Editor and, in fact, by The Press, in your choosing to highlight her purported “violations” on the front page...
End the EmbargoI read the viewpoint “Cuba Teeters on the Brink of Collapse” [Opinion, December 12], and I didn’t find any mention of the 64-year-old embargo on Cuba. The embargo was designed in 1960 to bring hunger and misery to the Cuban...
