The Portion Road improvement project has been
discussed and analyzed for over six years and much
progress has been made since we saw the first plans
for the road. This article traces the history of
the project and shows how we’ve gotten to where we
are today.
The community first became involved with the project in December 1999 at a public meeting that the Suffolk County Department of Public Works held to present their proposed plans for the new Portion Road. The meeting was well attended and the community was excited that the road was going to be improved. The County had prepared three alternative designs for consideration, but all were based on the typical five-lane design, similar to the already widened Horseblock Road in Farmingville and Middle Country Road in Centereach and Selden. They showed two through-lanes in each direction with a continuous painted center lane to be used for left turns for the full length of the project from Ronkonkoma Avenue to Nichols Road. Most of the attendees questioned the need for so many lanes and expressed fear that the proposed wide road would encourage higher speeds, cause more serious accidents and make it very difficult and unsafe for pedestrians to cross. They challenged the County engineers to improve Portion Road by adding turn lanes where necessary, coordinating the traffic lights better and providing new pavement, curbs, raised median islands, sidewalks and trees.
The County stated that they would listen to the community’s concerns and that more public meetings would follow. The next meeting was held in April 2000, but the “revised” road plans they presented were very similar to the original plans. The engineers were adamant that the road had to be the full five lanes wide to accommodate the traffic growth over the next 25 years. They indicated that this requirement was a condition of the federal funds that were being used for the project and if they downsized the road design they would lose the funds and the project might be canceled.
Many left that second meeting feeling that the community’s wishes were being ignored and convinced that the County was going to do what it wanted and that it was a waste of time trying to stop them. However, a few determined community members decided to try to change the road design before it was too late. The group initially called itself the CR16 Committee. The members met with other community activists and local advocacy groups to develop a mission statement and strategy for getting Portion Road redesigned to meet the needs of the community.
The group eventually developed an alternate proposal for the road design. They suggested that Portion Road be widened to five lanes only at the congested intersections that were causing the road to back up. The traffic volumes provided by the County indicated that most of the Portion Road congestion was caused by capacity problems at four critical intersections. The group maintained that it was unnecessary and unwise to widen the entire road to five lanes just to solve the problems that were being caused by a few intersections. Their alternate plan recommended limited widening to five lanes only at Hawkins and Ronkonkoma Avenues, and between Cenacle and Holbrook Roads. One lane in each direction with additional turn lanes and improved traffic light timing were also recommended to improve the traffic flow.
The CR 16 Committee scheduled community meetings at the Sachem Library to make sure the community was supportive of the committee’s proposal. Most who attended expressed support and encouragement for what the committee was trying to accomplish, but others continued to express doubt that the County would ever change its plans. Nevertheless, the committee continued to meet with the County engineers and the Town and County political leaders. The engineers maintained that their basic design was still the best plan for the road and the political leaders were reluctant to fully support the alternate plan that the CR16 Committee was presenting on behalf of the community.
It was now early 2003 and over three years had passed since the first public meeting in 1999. The CR16 Committee membership had grown, but progress was being made very slowly. Eventually the members saw a need to address other issues in addition to the road widening, and incorporated in April 2003 as the Lake Ronkonkoma Civic Organization.
In May 2003 a press conference and protest march along the road was held. About 100 residents marched and protested the plan for a wide Portion Road. They shouted “We Don’t Want A Highway.” The event was covered by network TV and several newspapers and it was clear that the community was speaking out against the proposed road design.
The County DPW engineers eventually relented somewhat, and after reviewing the existing and projected traffic volumes, agreed that the traffic conditions along Portion Road east of Holbrook Road were not as severe as at the west end of the project. They then revised the plan so that, east of Holbrook Road, the new road would only be one lane in each direction with an additional center lane for left turns. That was certainly a major improvement to the project, but they still planned to keep the western section of the road the five lanes wide from Ronkonkoma Avenue to Holbrook Road. The Civic and the community were adamant that it was also unnecessary to make that part of the road that wide.
The next major milestone for the Portion Road project took place in October 2004 when the four-day long Community Visioning meetings were held at the Sachem Library. The Visioning was an opportunity for the residents and business owners to come together and express their wishes for the new Portion Road. It was a productive weekend and generated many interesting land use and road design ideas. While the reduced width of Portion Road to three lanes east of Holbrook Road was viewed as a positive accomplishment, the proposal for five full lanes west of Holbrook Road was still unacceptable to the community. The consultants and planners who directed the visioning meetings were convinced that the road could function satisfactorily with fewer lanes.
After the Visioning, the Civic met several times with the elected officials and the County design engineers to try to find a compromise solution to the remaining disagreements regarding the plan for the road. In March 2006 a new plan was presented that had only one through-lane in each direction in the western part of the project. The County said they could meet federal design requirements by locating the curbs in this area so that in the future they could install the additional lanes if traffic volumes warranted. However, they stressed that they had no intention of future widening and that they would only consider it if was actually requested by the community. The remaining pavement width will be used to provide a bike lane with a buffer. While the Civic was not happy with the resulting extra pavement, we have accepted it as a necessary compromise to move the project forward. Elimination of the additional through lanes was a major victory and will make the resulting road much safer and community friendly.
The latest plan for Portion Road provides for one lane in each direction between Hawkins Avenue and Cenacle Road, and from Holbrook Road to Morris Avenue. Two lanes in each direction are provided between Ronkonkoma and Hawkins Avenues, and between Cenacle Road and Holbrook Road to handle the heavy intersection volumes in these two areas. Smooth tapers will be provided to safely transition traffic between the one and two lane sections and a center turn lane will be provided for the full length of the project.
The plan is now being reviewed by the Civic and we will be conveying our comments to the County both in writing and also at the public hearing to be held soon. While we have reached basic agreement on the road’s lane configuration, there are many features of the road that need to be refined to better meet the needs of the community, for example:
• The type and spacing of the trees.
• The number of lanes on the cross street approaches to Portion Road.
• The placement and design of the pedestrian crosswalks and the bus stops.
• The details for the bike lanes.
• The design and locations of the raised median islands and the curb bump outs.
As it now stands the public hearing may be held as early as July 2006. After all the issues are resolved the project will then go to the final design stage; the required property parcels will be acquired; the contract will be bid; and construction will begin. The project will most likely be constructed in two or three phases to minimize traffic disruptions. Given the complexity of the process, the road will probably be completed sometime after 2010. Even though it will take a long time to complete, the finished road will definitely be an asset to the community and will be well worth waiting for.
- Submitted by Ken Kellaher
The community first became involved with the project in December 1999 at a public meeting that the Suffolk County Department of Public Works held to present their proposed plans for the new Portion Road. The meeting was well attended and the community was excited that the road was going to be improved. The County had prepared three alternative designs for consideration, but all were based on the typical five-lane design, similar to the already widened Horseblock Road in Farmingville and Middle Country Road in Centereach and Selden. They showed two through-lanes in each direction with a continuous painted center lane to be used for left turns for the full length of the project from Ronkonkoma Avenue to Nichols Road. Most of the attendees questioned the need for so many lanes and expressed fear that the proposed wide road would encourage higher speeds, cause more serious accidents and make it very difficult and unsafe for pedestrians to cross. They challenged the County engineers to improve Portion Road by adding turn lanes where necessary, coordinating the traffic lights better and providing new pavement, curbs, raised median islands, sidewalks and trees.
The County stated that they would listen to the community’s concerns and that more public meetings would follow. The next meeting was held in April 2000, but the “revised” road plans they presented were very similar to the original plans. The engineers were adamant that the road had to be the full five lanes wide to accommodate the traffic growth over the next 25 years. They indicated that this requirement was a condition of the federal funds that were being used for the project and if they downsized the road design they would lose the funds and the project might be canceled.
Many left that second meeting feeling that the community’s wishes were being ignored and convinced that the County was going to do what it wanted and that it was a waste of time trying to stop them. However, a few determined community members decided to try to change the road design before it was too late. The group initially called itself the CR16 Committee. The members met with other community activists and local advocacy groups to develop a mission statement and strategy for getting Portion Road redesigned to meet the needs of the community.
The group eventually developed an alternate proposal for the road design. They suggested that Portion Road be widened to five lanes only at the congested intersections that were causing the road to back up. The traffic volumes provided by the County indicated that most of the Portion Road congestion was caused by capacity problems at four critical intersections. The group maintained that it was unnecessary and unwise to widen the entire road to five lanes just to solve the problems that were being caused by a few intersections. Their alternate plan recommended limited widening to five lanes only at Hawkins and Ronkonkoma Avenues, and between Cenacle and Holbrook Roads. One lane in each direction with additional turn lanes and improved traffic light timing were also recommended to improve the traffic flow.
The CR 16 Committee scheduled community meetings at the Sachem Library to make sure the community was supportive of the committee’s proposal. Most who attended expressed support and encouragement for what the committee was trying to accomplish, but others continued to express doubt that the County would ever change its plans. Nevertheless, the committee continued to meet with the County engineers and the Town and County political leaders. The engineers maintained that their basic design was still the best plan for the road and the political leaders were reluctant to fully support the alternate plan that the CR16 Committee was presenting on behalf of the community.
It was now early 2003 and over three years had passed since the first public meeting in 1999. The CR16 Committee membership had grown, but progress was being made very slowly. Eventually the members saw a need to address other issues in addition to the road widening, and incorporated in April 2003 as the Lake Ronkonkoma Civic Organization.
In May 2003 a press conference and protest march along the road was held. About 100 residents marched and protested the plan for a wide Portion Road. They shouted “We Don’t Want A Highway.” The event was covered by network TV and several newspapers and it was clear that the community was speaking out against the proposed road design.
The County DPW engineers eventually relented somewhat, and after reviewing the existing and projected traffic volumes, agreed that the traffic conditions along Portion Road east of Holbrook Road were not as severe as at the west end of the project. They then revised the plan so that, east of Holbrook Road, the new road would only be one lane in each direction with an additional center lane for left turns. That was certainly a major improvement to the project, but they still planned to keep the western section of the road the five lanes wide from Ronkonkoma Avenue to Holbrook Road. The Civic and the community were adamant that it was also unnecessary to make that part of the road that wide.
The next major milestone for the Portion Road project took place in October 2004 when the four-day long Community Visioning meetings were held at the Sachem Library. The Visioning was an opportunity for the residents and business owners to come together and express their wishes for the new Portion Road. It was a productive weekend and generated many interesting land use and road design ideas. While the reduced width of Portion Road to three lanes east of Holbrook Road was viewed as a positive accomplishment, the proposal for five full lanes west of Holbrook Road was still unacceptable to the community. The consultants and planners who directed the visioning meetings were convinced that the road could function satisfactorily with fewer lanes.
After the Visioning, the Civic met several times with the elected officials and the County design engineers to try to find a compromise solution to the remaining disagreements regarding the plan for the road. In March 2006 a new plan was presented that had only one through-lane in each direction in the western part of the project. The County said they could meet federal design requirements by locating the curbs in this area so that in the future they could install the additional lanes if traffic volumes warranted. However, they stressed that they had no intention of future widening and that they would only consider it if was actually requested by the community. The remaining pavement width will be used to provide a bike lane with a buffer. While the Civic was not happy with the resulting extra pavement, we have accepted it as a necessary compromise to move the project forward. Elimination of the additional through lanes was a major victory and will make the resulting road much safer and community friendly.
The latest plan for Portion Road provides for one lane in each direction between Hawkins Avenue and Cenacle Road, and from Holbrook Road to Morris Avenue. Two lanes in each direction are provided between Ronkonkoma and Hawkins Avenues, and between Cenacle Road and Holbrook Road to handle the heavy intersection volumes in these two areas. Smooth tapers will be provided to safely transition traffic between the one and two lane sections and a center turn lane will be provided for the full length of the project.
The plan is now being reviewed by the Civic and we will be conveying our comments to the County both in writing and also at the public hearing to be held soon. While we have reached basic agreement on the road’s lane configuration, there are many features of the road that need to be refined to better meet the needs of the community, for example:
• The type and spacing of the trees.
• The number of lanes on the cross street approaches to Portion Road.
• The placement and design of the pedestrian crosswalks and the bus stops.
• The details for the bike lanes.
• The design and locations of the raised median islands and the curb bump outs.
As it now stands the public hearing may be held as early as July 2006. After all the issues are resolved the project will then go to the final design stage; the required property parcels will be acquired; the contract will be bid; and construction will begin. The project will most likely be constructed in two or three phases to minimize traffic disruptions. Given the complexity of the process, the road will probably be completed sometime after 2010. Even though it will take a long time to complete, the finished road will definitely be an asset to the community and will be well worth waiting for.
- Submitted by Ken Kellaher