DOT to reconfigure Smithtown's Main Street

State officials plan to reduce the westbound lanes of Main Street in Smithtown from two lanes to one, to improve safety on a road considered one of Long Island's most dangerous.

During a closed meeting Thursday in Hauppauge with local leaders and residents, Department of Transportation officials said they plan to paint stripes next spring to turn a westbound lane into a median and turning lane between Elm Avenue and state Route 111.

Main Street, which is state routes 25 and 25A, has been the site of three pedestrian deaths since November 2009.

After the meeting, state Transportation Commissioner Joan McDonald said work is expected to begin in February and will be completed by Memorial Day. The alterations should "calm" traffic in Smithtown, she said.

"When you reduce the traffic lanes and add a median, you compress the traffic, and just by its nature, it's a traffic calming effect," she said.

The plan also calls for installing a "Rest in Red" system in the traffic lights at Main Street intersections, in which a traffic signal remains red during off-peak hours until a car is electronically detected.

"That will discourage some of the speeding that happens," McDonald said. "It will allow pedestrians to cross."

The changes, which will cost an estimated $200,000 of state money, are intended to be temporary while state officials consider other improvements, such as a concrete median on Main Street.

Town Councilman Robert Creighton, who attended the closed meeting, said he believes the striping plan "will positively slow traffic down."

"I think it's the best option right now. The best part about it is . . . the expenditure you're doing to get it together isn't terribly expensive, and if it doesn't work, you can move on to another plan," he said.

But some who viewed the plans expressed skepticism that it will stem accidents and improve traffic. Town Supervisor Patrick Vecchio said he worries that "people will go over the median whenever they want," adding, "That is a potential danger. At some point, a motorist will ignore the painted lines."

"Striping does not really mitigate the speed issue that we have a concern about," Mark Mancini, an architect and president of the Greater Smithtown Chamber of Commerce, said. "I'm a little concerned . . . that they'll put down the striping and then say, 'Hey, great, it works,' and walk away."

Vecchio and Mancini say they prefer raised medians.

McDonald said engineers believe medians and turn lanes are "very time-tested and proven ways" to enhance safety. "These are the improvements that we think we can do immediately."

Lavena Sipes of Smithtown, whose daughter Courtney, 11, was killed while crossing Main Street two years ago by a driver who was speeding and high heroin, said reducing the westbound lanes is "a very good idea."

"They're focused on both short-term and long-term solutions," said Sipes, who attended the meeting. "I commend them for that."