News

Another South Fork accident delays North Ferry boats

AMBROSE CLANCY PHOTO | For the second time in less than two weeks, the North Ferry line stretched down Wiggins Street in Greenport for blocks.

For the second time in less than a week, County Road 39 in Southampton had to be closed Monday morning resulting in backups for traffic using North Ferry.

The  accident again involved a Hampton Jitney bus. This time it was a garbage truck that police reported striking the jitney.

The accident at Route 39 near David Whites Lane occurred at 4:37 a.m.

Truck traffic that typically would have used Route 39 to get to the South Fork lined up, instead, in Greenport to board North Ferry boats bound for Shelter Island and then South Ferry boats to reach the Hamptons.

While South Ferry reported the increase was staggered so as to not cause any backups, drivers boarding North Ferry boats in Greenport had about a 20 minute wait. By 10 a.m., North Ferry still had five boats running, instead of the usual three that would have been running by that time between Greenport and Shelter Island. The excess truck traffic included  several Long Island Power Authority trucks and several Corazzini Asphalt trucks plus the usual array of landscapers and other service vehicles bound for Shelter Island.

Details of the accident weren’t immediately available.

Nor could North Ferry officials be reached to determine how long the backup on its boats continued.

In other traffic news, New York Avenue has been closed due to LIPA workers fusing pipes  and running them toward Crescent Beach for the power  pipeline project.

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