Government

Flanders Road repaving pushed back until after Memorial Day

Flanders Road repaving will run from south to north once it starts on May 27.
Flanders Road repaving will run from south to north once it starts on May 27.

“In an effort to try and provide motorist and travelers with a smoother and safer roadway,” according to the office of Assemblyman Fred Thiele, paving work on Flanders Road — which was expected to start today — has been pushed back until after Memorial Day. Work will start on Wednesday, May 27, according to a spokesperson with the state Department of Transportation.

The delay, said Eileen Peters with the DOT, was called for since parts of the road would be milled during the busy holiday weekend, likely slowing down traffic on some of the most-traveled days of the year.

“It’s safe, but slow going,” she said. “We did not want to leave it in that condition over Memorial Day weekend.”

Mr. Thiele’s office had stated that work would begin the Tuesday after Memorial Day, though Ms. Peters said that some equipment needed to start the work would not be available on that day.

The work is part of a $5.2 million project to repave seven miles of Flanders Road (State Route 24) between Lake Avenue on the west and Old Riverhead Road on the east.

The DOT completed from Old Riverhead Road in Hampton Bays to Birch Avenue in Flanders (just east of Longneck Boulevard) last fall and now plans to do the rest of the job, from Birch Avenue to Lake Avenue, near the traffic circle, in Riverside. Repaving last fall took about a month.

The work will take place each Monday to Friday, between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., weather permitting.

The poor condition of Flanders Road was cited by Southampton Town Police as a contributing factor, along with texting and driving, in a 2014 crash in which a PSEG truck crossed into oncoming traffic and killed a Hampton Bays woman who was driving the opposition direction.