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$3M would make town roads safer for responders
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| | | The Farmingville Fire Department demonstrated how the preemption system works in front of Town Hall. Photo by Jennifer Choi (click for larger version) | |
July 08, 2009 | 03:20 PM
Congressman Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) and members of the Brookhaven Town Board announced Monday a $3 million program to deploy a GPS preemption system throughout the town to assist emergency services to respond to calls more quickly and safely.
During a press conference and live demonstration of the system, Bishop explained that the project will be funded using $2.4 million in federal funds secured by the congressman and $600,000 in matching town funds. In the next nine months, every street light and emergency vehicle in Brookhaven will be equipped with the GPS preemptive system, which has already been installed at the traffic light near Town Hall at the foot of Independence Hill.
Brian Lenz, the town's assistant director of traffic safety, said the new system will enable street lights to detect emergency service vehicles before they appear in the line of sight and change the signal to green, prompting each subsequent traffic signal to follow suit. The coordinated system will improve response times and provide safer driving conditions, Lenz said, noting that all traffic lights in Brookhaven, including those operated by the state and county, and the more than 450 emergency vehicles townwide will receive the upgrade.
A member of the federal Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Bishop noted the $2.4 million was initially appropriated in 1998 for a road project in Shirley that never came to fruition. The available monies will now be used in a "very effective and productive manner" and serve as an "example of the partnership and cooperation across various government agencies and political parties," according to the congressman. Considering the "complexity and breadth" of the safety issue at hand, providing support for such a project to avoid placing the burden on local residents is the "most appropriate role for the federal government," Bishop said, pointing out that a similar system in Smithtown is up and running thanks to federal funding.
Joined by Town Board members Keith Romaine (R-Center Moriches), Kathy Walsh (R-Centereach) and Jane Bonner (C-Rocky Point), Brookhaven Supervisor Mark Lesko said the $3 million program enables town officials to make the roadways even safer for the "local heroes" who respond to emergencies throughout the town. Bonner also noted that the program fulfills the town's priority of "making our roads safer to travel for first responders who do a heroic job."
"When there is an emergency, every second, every minute counts," said Romaine, the town council liaison to fire services. "When I met with Congressman Bishop, we discussed this important priority and I would like to thank him for his support for this project. This is by far the best and highest use of these funds."
According to Lynn Weyant, the town's director of traffic safety, Brookhaven is the first municipality on Long Island to implement this particular system. In addition to being "extremely reliable," Weyant said the maintenance costs for the equipment are "minimal." The goal, she added, is to "improve traffic safety" for both first responders and local residents.
Frank Guarino, former chief of the Hagerman Fire Department in East Patchogue, said he believes the GPS preemption system will be helpful because many drivers "don't give the courtesy" of allowing emergency vehicles to pass. "There are too many accidents," Guarino said, "and there doesn't have to be."
The Village Times Herald newspaper's headline for this story incorrectly stated the $3 million project figure as $2.4 million. We regret the error.
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