Featured Story

Featured Letter: Danger still exists on Route 48

traffic light

Route 48 is still an accident waiting to happen.

I agree with the letter stating the situation on Route 48 and Depot Lane is not improved.

The new light was a rush to judgment, a transparent Band-Aid that does nothing to improve a road that was designed to be an expressway in a rural community.

The planners obviously had no concept of traffic patterns here in Southold or anywhere else.

The speed limit is 55 miles per hour, the exact same as the Long Island Expressway. And what speed do the drivers reach on that also divided highway? Yes — 70 miles per hour on a normal basis, and much higher, as we all know.

There are numerous spaces with left turn areas at and between intersections all along Route 48, from its four-lane divided section to Youngs Avenue, where it once again recedes to a two-lane byway.

These turn lanes are inviting drivers to make a U-turn.

Realizing that U-turns on high-speed roads are dangerous, there are signs on the Long Island Expressway posted that say “NO U-TURN” at each cut in the divided roadway.

If the highway planners were serious about reducing accidents on Route 48 there would be none of these left turn lanes and at each intersection there would be “No U-Turn” signs.

However, at each intersection where there is a traffic light there should be a special left turn signal and an appropriate “No U-Turn” exception sign.

This may not stop horrid accidents as was the case recently, but these measures might make a difference.

The author is a Peconic resident.