To the Editor:

I am wondering what the thought process was which had two temporary traffic lights installed in the Underhill Road area on Wednesday. Center Street is now closed to through traffic due to bridge construction on I-84, and local residents must travel the “long” way through Underhill Road to Alpine Drive, and back.

There are now two traffic lights installed: one in the middle of Underhill Road, between intersections of Round Hill and Center Street, and the other between two bridges on Alpine Drive, several hundred feet before the intersection of Underhill Rd. The two lights are 1/4 mile apart.  There is a wait of three minutes for the light to turn green.  Only some traffic at the Alpine light heads toward Underhill Road.  The rest continues on Alpine Drive. As Underhill Road is a two-way street,  what is the purpose of the traffic signals? I feel they will cause accidents on Underhill Road, giving drivers the false belief that when they have a green light, no one is coming in the other direction.  There is more traffic coming from two other intersections, plus dozens of homes which have no traffic light.  As this is a dead-end neighborhood, and the only traffic coming through is local, this particular use of traffic lights is not only annoying, but dangerous.

I hope the traffic commissioner will remedy this situation soon.

Sincerely,

Karen Kuhne

4 Underhill Road, Sandy Hook                    July 19, 2013