Official: LI traffic will lighten Monday

Huge crowds at Jones Beach Sunday meant record traffic - "the earliest and biggest we've seen since we've been doing the air show," said George Gorman Jr., deputy regional director for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

But officials said the traffic outlook Monday would be better, at least around state parks such as Jones Beach, Robert Moses, Sunken Meadow and Hither Hills in Montauk.

"We expect a normal beachfront day," Gorman said. "We don't expect to be overwhelmed. We don't expect heavy crowds."

The temperatures are expected to peak across Long Island at about 80 degrees with a chance of thunderstorms, according to the National Weather Service.

With water temperatures hovering around 60 degrees, Memorial Day generally doesn't draw huge beach crowds, Gorman said, unless there is an event like Sunday's Bethpage Federal Credit Union Air Show.

The crush of air show spectators - about 236,000 in all - began at dawn Sunday, filling all six public parking fields at Jones Beach and the medians and shoulders of Ocean Parkway within hours, Gorman said.

By 10:45 a.m., Jones Beach officials said the park was filled to capacity and began turning motorists away. In 2008, when the previous traffic record was set, the park was closed at noon, Gorman said.

Motorists generally encountered about 30 minutes of traffic arriving and departing the park, a little longer when spectators left after the air show ended at 3 p.m., Gorman said.

Authorities said they do expect heavier than normal traffic on the Long Island Expressway and parkways Monday. And law enforcement agencies promised to be out in force to nab drunk drivers.

From Friday at 9 p.m. through Sunday morning, Nassau police said they had arrested 45 drunken drivers. Over the entire holiday weekend last year, 65 DWI arrests were made in Nassau.

In Suffolk, police said they made 31 DWI arrests from 3 p.m. Friday through Sunday morning. Over the entire weekend last year, Suffolk police made 41 DWI arrests.