Tales of Amagansett Part 4:  Traffic

Thursday I’d check the weather. It didn’t matter what it was. Susan and I were going to Amagansett. It didn’t matter what time we left on Friday. There would be traffic. Going out was never as bad as returning. Going out we were happy to be going to the beach and all the frivolous images it provides. We would bring lots of groceries and beer. Occasionally, I’d stop on the way at an Indian Reservation Smoke Shop to buy cigarettes. A carton of Marlboro ($2.50) and a carton of Kool  ($2.50) will keep me in smokes for a few weeks.

It was stop and go on the Long Island Expressway until Exit 49ish. We’d usually get off in the 60’s. You drove a few miles and turned left onto Sunrise Highway Route 27. The name changes but not the number. It ends up Montauk Highway. But Route 27 and the Expressway were basically the only 2 roads you traversed. Two roads, 2 hours on a normal Friday night. Manageable. When we arrived, it was dark and quiet. The salty smell and sounds of the surf washed over us. I’m NOW (2023) remembering the smell and surf sounds in Long Branch that prompted this whole series. Must go back there.

Suddenly it’s Sunday and the “when do we leave” debate starts. Do we leave at 3 and maybe get home at 7. Or do we wait and leave at 7 and get home at midnight or later. Decisions. Decisions. Whatever we choose, the traffic was terrible. On Route 27 we had Malls on either side of the road with traffic lights and 2 lane left turn lanes. No matter which time you chose you had Seniors going to the blue hair specials or families heading to the Outback Steakhouse. It was stop and go until you got to a connector to the Expressway – maybe 20 miles from Amagansett. So for 20 miles you just stopped and go’ed you way.

Most drivers were so fed up with the stop and go shit that they all took the first road possible to the Expressway. Only 7 or so miles but on a one lane road with a shoulder. It’s that shoulder that sticks in my mind as an example of “every now and then, something GREAT happens – and you are there to watch it”. We’d be on the road, close to the entrance to the Expressway. It was just up ahead. On the right. That shoulder sure looked inviting. I could just pull over and speed up. Tempting, but not for me, I’m chicken. Others would do it and it would PISS ME OFF. One day we found three patrol cars had been pulling shoulder riders over and they were all lined up in an empty parking area waiting to get a ticket. It made the rest of the trip somehow easier.

But mostly it was a fight to get onto each of the 2 roads and then just the fact of too many cars going to the same place. By the time we got home I’d be swearing I would NEVER go back to Amagansett again. Then I’d go to work on Monday. And again, on Tuesday. By Wednesday, Amagansett was looking good. By Thursday I was checking the weather.