Eighteen large, bright yellow signs that were erected along Main Street at pedestrian crosswalks have town officials seeing red.
Riverhead Landmarks Preservation Commission chairman Richard Wines has written a letter of complaint to the state office of historic preservation.
There are six large signs marking each crosswalk between Roanoke and East avenues on East Main Street, all apparently erected over the past few days. Crosswalk signs have not yet been placed at the intersection of Roanoke/Peconic avenue and Main Street, though small metal stakes protrude from the sidewalks at those locations, apparently in preparation for new signs.
“How could they possibly need so many?” Wines asked.
“These are signs designed for 55 m.p.h. highways, not historic downtowns with slow-moving traffic,” Wines said. “They don’t even tell drivers to yield to pedestrians,” he said.
Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter said he is “fairly certain” pedestrian safety can be protected “while maintaining the historic character of our downtown.”
Walter said he thought this issue was resolved in 2013, through communication between Deputy Supervisor Jill Lewis and the state DOT’s regional director’s office.
Lewis complained to the state agency in January 2013 about the vertical pedestrian crosswalk sign on the sidewalk in front of the Suffolk Theater, which she called “quite an eyesore.” Lewis then asked the state to install permanent center-of-crosswalk signs instead of the large signs mounted on the sidewalk.
“Eventually, I would love to see these signs in the crosswalks throughout the downtown area,” Lewis wrote. They would make “an excellent traffic calming device,” she wrote.
Wines said he favors those types of signs as well.
A spokesperson for the state DOT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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