North Ferry Traffic Solutions Vetted By Village

With an eye toward putting an end to growing traffic congestion at the North Ferry terminal in Greenport, the board has embarked on solutions.

At Monday night's Greenport Village Board meeting, Trustee George Hubbard Jr. said Mayor David Nyce — who was absent from Tuesday's session — and he had met with the Soutold Town transportation committee, as well Bridg Hunt, manager of the North Ferry.

The consensus, Hubbard said, was that the goal would be to get permission from the MTA to have all ferry traffic come down 4th Street, with two lines of traffic, and no entrance to the ferry on 3rd Street.

Another possibility, Hubbard said, was turning Wiggins Street back to a two-way street.

"That would alleviate a lot of congestion at the corner of Wiggins and 3rd and also gives you the option, when there's a long line of traffic at the light, to go up Wiggins," he said.

Southold Town Police Chief Martin Flatley gave the idea the thumb's up, Hubbard said.

The only question remaining concerned using the dirt driveway that currently goes around the train museum, Hubbard said; the North Ferry could pave that and make it two lanes, or even three, so that big trucks that have trouble turning could come in straight down 4th Street.

"This would alleviate all of the problems down there," Hubbard said.

Hubbard said Nyce was planning to speak to the MTA to pitch the idea.

Recently, Nyce first brought up the problem at a village board work session, stating that the influx of visitors was a boon for area businesses.

But the surge in traffic, Nyce said, has posed some concerns.

Nyce said some discussion has been held about possibly re-routing some of that traffic down by the ferry terminal.

"As traffic continues to increase, there are going to be certain places that you're going to feel it," Nyce said. "That's one of them. There are a lot of people coming off those boats."

The first meeting with Hunt went well, Nyce said. "Everything out here is usually confrontational, but at least we were able to sit down with the principal of the North Ferry and have a conversation. It may be confrontational, but it might not have to be. This is a good problem to have," he added.

The goal, Nyce said, is to find a solution that would not place the burden solely on any one group.

Hunt declined to comment on Tuesday, stating that he had not been in attendance at Monday night's village board work session to hear the discussion.