Smithtown road to lose a lane for safety

State road crews next month are scheduled to begin closing one of two westbound lanes on Main Street in Smithtown as part of a plan to reduce fatalities on one of Long Island's most dangerous roads.

But traffic safety advocates said Wednesday that the plan to paint new stripes, announced late last year, won't be enough to improve safety on Main Street, which there coincides with state Routes 25 and 25A.

A report released Wednesday by the Manhattan-based Tri-State Transportation Campaign said three pedestrians were killed on Main Street from 2008 through 2010. Another pedestrian, Afghanistan War veteran Seamus Byrne, 33, of Smithtown, was killed there last year.

"It can't end with the re-striping because there's a lot more to the town that must be addressed," said Greater Smithtown Chamber of Commerce president Mark Mancini. He has proposed building raised medians to protect pedestrians from traffic.

"Pedestrians can't cross the road," he said. "We're saddled with a four-lane highway that doesn't work properly and the inability of pedestrians to walk around safely."

State officials have said that if closing a westbound lane doesn't improve safety, they will consider more drastic measures. "We will be implementing improvements this spring and will continue to work closely with stakeholders," a state Department of Transportation spokesman said Wednesday in a statement.

The Tri-State report said the state is making "welcome improvements, but there is wide support for more work to be done on this road."

The November 2009 death of Courtney Sipes, 11, of Smithtown, prompted the state to upgrade crosswalks and add a fence to discourage jaywalking.

Will Stoner, Long Island associate state director for the AARP, said cars and trucks often top 50 mph on Main Street, where the speed limit is 30 mph. "Pedestrians don't have much of a chance in a setting like that," he said.