DOT Drops Plan to Widen Main Street, Re-Evaluates Route 111 Intersection

New York State's Department of Transportation is looking at Smithtown's Route 25 in a different light after last year's public outcry. 

Eileen Peters, spokeswoman for the DOT, said state officials notified the Town of Smithtown they would be withdrawing their previous plans to widen Route 25 - know as Smithtown Main Street and Middle Country Road - between the Route 111 and Route 347 intersection. 

"We were looking to widen Route 25 from 3 to 5 lanes, that was put on hold to address the community’s request for improvements just west of there in the downtown area," Peters said. 

In May 2012, the DOT repainted the lanes of Smithtown's Main Street to include multiple left-turn lanes and implement a "road diet," narrowing westbound traffic to one lane. These measures were taken as a result of public outcry over multiple fatal accidents along the downtown Main Street, including the death of 11-year-old Courtney Sipes in 2009. 

"Now that we've done the road diet and other traffic-calming measures for pedestrians, it's no longer compatible," Peters said. 

DeRubeis said town officials were never supportive of the state's plans to widen Route 25/Main Street.

"To make it to 88-feet across, almost 30-feet wider than the current road is excessive," he said. "We were supportive of a four-lane roadway with a center turning lane."

With all plans to widen Smithtown Main Street dropped, Peters said the state will focus on studying and evaluating various intersections along Route 25 between Smithtown and the Smith Haven Mall area. 

"We’ll look at the whole corridor -  it might be similar to what we did west of there - for the purpose of improving traffic flow and safety as well," Peters said.

DeRubis said one particular intersection he feels could use further improvements would be Main Street and Route 111. 

"We asked them to re-evaluate the intersection at Route 111 to Route 25 in that they have two lanes merging into one lane coming into the downtown area as we feel it rapidly merging causes issues, traffic backs up," he said. 

Otherwise, the planning director feels the changes to Smithtown's downtown Main Street are "to some degree, they have been successful." 

"I think a lot of people are complaining as traffic moves slower through downtown Smithtown. One of the things we have noted, we don’t have the traffic congestion like we used to during rush hour. The traffic actually moves," DeRubeis said. 

There is no timeframe set forth for the Route 25 study, according to Peters. However, plans to repave the length of Smithtown Main Street are in the works, with contractor bids being solicited in a year and a half. 

Tell us, do you feel the changes to Smithtown Main Street have improved safety over the past year? Why or why not?

What intersections along Route 25 need improvements?

Tell us in the comments below.