Main Street Gets New Turning Lanes; Westbound Traffic Now 1 Lane

Locals have called for changes to make Main Street safer and the have taken steps to do so – beginning with freshly painted lines and left-turning lanes.

The changes to the roadway included multiple painted lanes to make left turns, markings to extend and re-paint the crosswalk at Lawrence Avenue, and markings to paint a median. 

The markings also reduce westbound traffic to one lane.

Lavena Sipes, the mother of who struck by an SUV and killed on the roadway and founder of Smithtown Residents for a Safer Main Street, said via the group's Facebook page that the DOT deserves thanks for their latest efforts to make the road safer.

"Overnight the DOT implemented a major change to the road that we have talked about for months ... This is a major milestone in the journey to a better Smithtown. Many people are involved, but the DOT should ultimately be commended for implementing the previous measures and especially this very important long term solution," she wrote.

Sipes also encouraged locals that wanted to thank the DOT for their efforts to send letters to The Courtney Sipes Memorial Foundation, PO Box 1043, Smithtown, NY 11787, or email her at mom@courtneysipes.org.

The DOT announced in December of last year that and the changes would be viewed as a temporary fix with more long-term solutions to be discussed.