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Town deems Love Lane traffic study ‘inadequate’

Earlier this month, the Southold Town Board voted to cancel an agreement with the engineering firm that conducted a study examining traffic solutions for the Mattituck hamlet center, including the intersection of Route 25, Love Lane and Old Sound Road, which has long been a safety concern. 

The town was unhappy with the study completed by Dunn Engineering Associates P.C. of Westhampton Beach, Supervisor Scott Russell said Monday. The Town Board voted July 3 on a resolution to cancel its agreement with the firm. 

“We feel like it’s very inadequate, very incomplete, and falls far short of the original proposal,” Mr. Russell said. 

The consultant was supposed to hold public input meetings, as well as engineering meetings that included the Suffolk County Department of Public Works and state Department of Transportation, but those did not happen, to the supervisor’s knowledge. All of that input was to be combined and submitted in a final report, Mr. Russell said. 

A draft report that became public at the end of last year included a list of suggested piecemeal strategies to slow traffic or enhance pedestrian safety, such as rumble strips and elevated crosswalks. 

The town may seek to recapture the first half of the $22,000 spent on the study through litigation, Mr. Russell said. The town will also look into finding a firm that can complete the project in the scope that was originally sought.

“It’s our obligation to go out and find a firm that will do the job,” Mr. Russell said. 

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