Traffic alert: Griffing-Lincoln now a four-way stop intersection

Stop signs have been installed on Griffing Avenue at the intersection with Lincoln Street.

The intersection was made a four-way stop by the Riverhead Town Board last month.

The move was an initiative of Councilman James Wooten in the hope of cutting down the number of accidents at the intersection. There were previously stop signs only on Lincoln Street, with a flashing red light on Lincoln and a flashing yellow on Griffing.

Today, as Riverhead highway crews installed the new stop signs, the Griffing Avenue signal was also changed to a flashing red light. Highway crews also painted bright white stop lines at both Griffing Avenue stop signs.

“For some reason people seem to think cars on Griffing have a stop sign also,” Wooten said in August, when he asked the board to consider the change.

The group home on the corner there is an added reason for the four-way stop, Wooten said.

At a public hearing held Aug. 19, neighboring business owners spoke in support of the change, citing what they said were an abundance of accidents at the intersection.

Attorney Charles Cuddy, who maintains an office on Griffing Avenue near the intersection said he believed the public has a “misunderstanding” that the intersection was, in fact, a four-way stop already.

“There’s an accident I think probably once every three or four months there,” Cuddy said.

Highway Superintendent George Woodson said he is concerned motorists on Griffing Avenue will take time to get used to the idea of  stop signs there and may go through the intersection without stopping. He urges all motorists traveling on Lincoln Street to exercise caution and be sure drivers on Griffing are going to heed the stop sign before proceeding into the intersection.