Fire dept. decries town's roundabout plans

A plan to build a roundabout at the "Five Corners" crossroads in Lake Ronkonkoma will make the notoriously clogged intersection safer and less congested, Brookhaven Town officials say.

Members of a local fire department disagree adamantly.

The busy corner -- where Hawkins Avenue and Smith Road meet with Gatelot Avenue -- is slated to be reconstructed into a roundabout in 2012, town officials said. The project is aimed at "decreasing congestion and delays" and enhancing safety "by reducing conflict points," town spokesman Jack Krieger said.

But Ronkonkoma Fire Department Assistant Chief John Scotto and other members of the department fear the new roundabout will be an even bigger obstacle for fire trucks and ambulances, leading to slower response times.

The planned roundabout, located near Sachem North High School, is close to the center of the fire department's territory, which includes Lake Ronkonkoma, Lake Grove and Holbrook.

"It's not a positive thing for traffic flow," Scotto said. "Think about everyone on the road -- the school buses, the teachers. And you try to put emergency response in the middle of that?"

The town will soon hold a public informational meeting in which "these issues will be addressed," said Deputy Supervisor Kathleen Walsh, who represents the area. For now, the plan for the roundabout is moving forward, town officials said.

The project will cost about $462,000, $92,400 of which will be paid for by Brookhaven, town records state. The rest of the bill will be picked up by federal dollars, records show.

The project will be designed -- and offered for public comment -- by the fall, Krieger said. Construction will take at least six months, he said.

Charles Bornschein, who lives near the roundabout, said he is concerned it would impede ambulances from getting to Stony Brook University Medical Center.

"You should see traffic around here at 5 o'clock, and forget about it on Christmas time," he said. "It makes me wonder what's going to happen."

There are at least 10 roundabouts on Long Island and two new ones are scheduled for construction in Halesite, state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Eileen Peters said.

Rebuilding intersections as roundabouts reduces accidents by 40 percent and accidents with injuries by 80 percent, according to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in Arlington, Va.

Councilwoman Jane Bonner said the roundabout could help relieve congestion in the area. "If it makes traffic flow more quickly and more efficiently, I'm all for it," she said.

But Ronkonkoma Fire Chief Vincent Diaz isn't convinced. He said a roundabout could make nearby school traffic even more difficult for emergency responders to navigate.

"Most of the time, because of the traffic there . . . we have to jump out of the lane and ride the yellow line," he said. "We're not going to be able to do that any more because there's going to be a constant flow of traffic coming at us."