This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Newbridge Road - How Much More Can We Handle?

Newbridge Road (route 106) in East Meadow may be one of the most studied roads we have.

Newbridge Road is well traveled in East Meadow as it provides a great way to get from Hempstead Turnpike to North Jerusalem Road and beyond.

This road has had its share of problem for as long as I remember. Due to its lack of curves it can encourage the drive to go faster than the 40 miles per hour posted speed limit. I have noticed some slowness since the road has been put back to a single lane in each direction but I fail to see the necessity of additional traffic lights along its route.

Back in 1990 when I moved in the road was widened from one lane to two lanes in each direction which did affect some property along the way by putting some homes directly along the roadway. 

Find out what's happening in East Meadowwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

This also made the ride quicker while making using the road more dangerous even to drive it since many people would weave around each other get by. The total of six traffic signals on a one mile stretch of road seems excessive and a waste of tax payer money. Is this the best solution that the DOT could come up with? Maybe they could have put ribbing in the roadway to encourage people to slow down or make the lanes tighter. The traffic lights may cause more accidents as more surprise stops disturb drivers.

Another funny thing I noticed was that the lights seem to be purposely out of sequence with each other so the road is never fully open at one time. This is an idea that might be genius and should be used more regularly in other places. It is our own fault as a society racing everywhere to get where we are going only to be stuck in a traffic jam.

Find out what's happening in East Meadowwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

If we all just slowed down and took the time needed in the first place we would not be in this mess of “electronic cops” telling us when and where we can go. This idea of everyone trying to outrace the other has to stop. If we all budgeted our time better I think the roads would be safer for all of us. 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?