Route 25A Study Moves into Phase 2

Brookhaven Town's Route 25A Corridor Study will launch Phase II of its reserach in 2011, focusing on gathering hard data to shape revitalization plans for the road that's both highway and Main Street to Miller Place and Rocky Point.

While the first step of the study worked to identify key problems facing the stretch of roadway from Mt. Sinai to Wading River, the next phase will examine statistics like consumer expenditure data and traffic flow information.

The goal of the research is to develop plans to curb traffic problems, encourage local businesses and improve streetscaping, all while preserving historic assets and each hamlet's unique attributes.

"Now that we've looked at the problems and concerns, we are seeking specific data that will lead to solutions," said Brookhaven Councilwoman Jane Bonner, who initiated the study in 2008.

Bonner said the corridor has never been treated as a whole, and instead was developed piece by piece, leading to a stretch of the community that works separately, not together.

At a 2008 meeting at the Joseph A. Edgar School in Rocky Point, local residents voiced concerns about the bypass and unoccupied retail space, pedestrians and cyclists, and the ambiance of the downtown area.

Miller Place Civic Association President Woody Brown said the problems facing the area feed off of each other. For example, the makeup of businesses in the Miller Place area, which houses mainly mom-and-pop shops, means residents must travel outside the hamlet to work jobs that sustain the local cost of living. That traveling breeds traffic congestion on 25A.

"We have too much retail and not enough office jobs, which are potentially higher paying," he said. "We're for the mom-and-pop shops and you can't work those jobs and pay your taxes."

Brown added the current state of the corridor is unsustainable, and the town's study will at least bring data that could point revitalization in the right direction.

Phast II of the Route 25A study will cost about $70,000, according to Bonner, just slightly less than the first phase, which cost $80,000.

The research will take between one and two years, according to the town.

"My goal is to develop plans which pursue each community's character and encourage strategies to preserve it," Bonner said.