Written By Rachel Hayden
Merrick, New York has approximately 20,594 patrons and constantly growing according to the census. It is a suburban town on Long Island filled with family fun, schools, shopping, restaurants, and a lot of traffic. Merrick Road in Merrick is a constant source of stop and go traffic, honking, and angry people yelling at each other out their car windows. It is a hazard to anyone trying to cross the street or take the kids for a walk and even worse for the elderly. For such a nice little town, how did this happen? How is it that the traffic is so brutal all the time? I interviewed three people, one who lives off Merrick Road, one who works on Merrick Road, and one is elderly and lives in the town. I asked them all the same two questions, where on Merrick Road do they find the traffic to be at its worst? And if they were to go to the town counsel about this issue, how would they solve it. This was their answers.
Bobby is a lifetime Meroke, he grew up in the town and then made it a home for his family. He loves this town and would not want to live anywhere else. “Merrick has always been my home; I grew up here and then raised a family in this town. It’s a great place for a family but as the years went on the traffic has become insane. Merrick road is a sh** show 90% of the time. I can barely pull out of my driveway sometimes and there are always random cars parked in front of my home” says Bobby. “I live two houses off Merrick Road and some days the honking and traffic will last until 7:30-8PM. I just don’t get it, my kids used to walk to school and now I wouldn’t let them do that. Why live so close to a school if you can’t even let your kids safely walk there?” When I brought up the idea of taking to the town counsel Bobby got excited he told me he would give them a piece of his mind after all the years he has been there and said “I would love to talk to the counsel, ask them to put a big NO PARKING sign in front of my house so that my wife can park in front of her house after work and not down the block. I would also ask them to hire a few more crossing guards for before and after school. Those kids crossing the Merrick Road makes me nervous. I would also ask them to enforce more camera lights on the road. Maybe people wouldn’t drive through like such animals if they got more tickets.”
Douglas works as the head of maintenance at Birch Elementary school which is located off a side street but touches Merrick Road on one of its sides. “Merrick Road is awful; my guys are constantly cleaning up the fences from litter and debris people throw and leave around. It’s not safe for the kids. There are broken bottles, glass, and you don’t even want to know what else we find. One of the playgrounds face Merrick Road and it’s a constant struggle for the school staff to keep the kids away from the fences because there has been more than one car accident because of speeding and people just not paying attention.” When I asked him where specifically on Merrick Road did, he feel had the most traffic and congestion he explained “the light that leads people into and out of the Merrick Shopping Center. It sucks. The light is too short, and people are always rushing through and to it.” If he would talk to the town, he would tell them “Pay attention, an elementary school has kids from 5years old to 12 years old. They are here to learn, and the constant traffic and honking doesn’t help anything. It isnt a teaching assistant’s job to direct traffic it is the safety of the kids. The fact that the TA’s worry about taking the kids outside to play because they worry a car is going to come through the fence is ridiculous. Do better, for us and the kids.”
Lastly, I interviewed 80-year-old women named Martha. She is a resident of Merrick, she has lived there for 30 years and likes to take a daily walk around town and drives to the towns Trader Joes, CVS, and HomeGoods all of which are located on Merrick Road. She says “I live between Sunrise Highway and Merrick Road, smack in the middle! When the weather is pleasant, I like to get my exercise in by taking a stroll. I used to walk from my house to Merrick Road, I would sometimes stop at the Starbucks and get a coffee. But lately it scares me to walk that way because of all the cars. I am 80 I don’t go as fast as I used to, and people don’t like to wait for me to cross the street.” I asked her how driving was “I like to do some of my grocery shopping at Trader Joes, I sometimes wait at least 3 to 5 minutes to turn into the parking lot. Everyone honks at me but better safe than sorry. I would rather wait than get run over.” We chatted a little more about the intersections and stores she shops at in the town, I then approached her with her thoughts to bring up to town council, she says “I would ask them to think about their mothers, and if they would want them honked at! (Haha) I would ask for a few more crosswalks for folks my age and the kids that like to walk around town. I would also ask them to put a turn light at Trader Joes, maybe there would be less accidents there and a few less angry people.”
Merrick Road in Merrick is filled with so much good; it has small businesses to support, a plethora of delicious restaurants, and a lot of traffic. If the town could fine toon this issue it would make for a lot happier townies!