Featured Story

Traffic roundabout discussed for Greenport intersection

Should the intersection of Route 48 and Route 25 in Greenport be converted into a traffic roundabout?

That was one of the topics discussed when North Fork officials met with state Senator Ken LaValle (R-Port Jefferson) and representatives of the state Department of Transportation Thursday, according to Greenport Mayor George Hubbard Jr.

The Mayor said the meeting was called by Mr. LaValle and took place at his office in Mount Sinai. Southold Supervisor Scott Russell and North Fork state Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo (R-New Suffolk) were also in attendance.

Mr. Hubbard said the plan is in its early stages and Mr. LaValle invited local “stakeholders” to discuss it.

“They have a five-year window where this would start in 2020,” Mr. Hubbard said. “We asked if it could be sooner.”

The intersection currently has a blinking caution light, along with a stop sign for westbound traffic waiting to enter Route 48 from Route 25. The state is now considering a roundabout for the site, instead of a traffic signal, the mayor said.

“There is a great deal that they need to do before the first shovel gets put into the ground,” Mr. Russell said, citing studies, surveys and engineered plans, among other things.

“I asked them if they could install a three-phase traffic light to replace the blinking light until then, but they said that if a light goes in, they wouldn’t come back to do the round-about,” Mr. Russell said in an email. “Because of the crisis that traffic has become in Southold, the mayor and I asked for an expedited start date. It gets down to budgeting, however, and given all of the state projects pending over the next few years, it is unlikely we will see any work there until then.”

The intersection involves four municipalities, Mr. Hubbard said. Suffolk County owns Route 48 west of the intersection, New York State owns it east to Orient Point, Southold Town owns a small section stretching off Main Street south from the intersection, and Greenport Village owns the road south of that.

Mr. Hubbard said this intersection was actually once a traffic circle many years ago “when I was a kid.”

[email protected] 

Photo caption: The intersection of Route 48 and Route 25 in Greenport. (Rachel Siford photo)