D-1.2.4 Alternate 4 -Six Lane Limited Access Highway With Two Lane One Way Service Roads From the Northern State Parkway to Route 454 and an Eight Lane Arterial East of Route 454 to Route 25A With Jughandles and Some Grade Separations This reconstruction alternate, shown in Figure 18 involves the construction of an expressway type facility with service roads from the Northern State Parkway to the Route 454/347 diverge. East of the Route 454 diverge an eight lane arterial would be provided with grade separations at critical intersections. As with Alternate 3, modified cloverleaf interchanges are provided at Route 25 and C.R. 97. All other grade separations are of the single point diamond type. At locations where interchanges are not provided, "jughandle" type operations would replace standard intersection type improvements. A typical jughandle intersection is presented in Figure 19. At these locations left turns from Route 347 to the side streets would be accomplished as a thru movement from the side street. With this alternate capacity is greatly increased along the Route 347/454 overlap segment. The grade separations eliminate the bottlenecks caused by the traffic signal locations. In addition the jughandle operation eliminates the need for the long mainline left turn phases, allowing this time to be used for mainline thru traffic. D-1.2.5 Alternate 5 - Six Lane Limited Access Highway with Two Lane One Way Service Roads with HOV Lane From the Northern State Parkway to Route 454 and A Six Lane Arterial with HOV Lane East of Route 454 to Route 25A with Jughandles and Some Grade Separations This reconstruction alternate, shown in Figure 20, includes a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) facility extending from just east of the Northern State Parkway to Route 112. This HOV lane is isolated from the 2 general use lanes by a striped buffer lane. As with Alternates 3 and 4, modified cloverleaf interchanges are provided at Route 25 and C.R. 97. All other grade separations are of the single point diamond type. Jughandles are provided at remaining signalized locations. With this alternate the vehicle demand is effectively reduced by encouraging the use of carpooling. The concept behind HOV facilities is that the HOV lane will move faster than the general use lanes, thereby encouraging people to carpool. This results in a reduction of the overall number of vehicles on the highway, additionally improving levels of service for the general use lanes. 97 Click Here To View Figure 18 98 Click Here To View Figure 19 99 Click Here To View Figure 20 100 D-1.2.6 Alternate 6 - Six Lane Limited Access Highway with Two Lane One Way Service Roads From the Northern State Parkway to Route 25A This reconstruction alternate, shown in Figure 21, is the most construction intensive alternate. As a result of a screening process to determine the potential environmental impacts it was determined that the construction of Alternate 6 is not a viable solution to the problems in the corridor. Alternate 6, as well as costing an estimated 511 million dollars, would have a devastating effect on the existing land uses that currently line the corridor. Major shopping centers as well as minor ones, along with many residential areas, would be seriously impacted or displaced altogether with Alternate 6. D-1.2.7 Alternate 7 - Six Lane Limited Access Highway with Two Lane One Way Service Roads with HOV Lane From the Northern State Parkway to Route 454 and an Eight Lane Arterial with HOV Lane East of Route 454 to Route 25A With Jughandles and Some Grade Separations This reconstruction alternate, shown in Figure 22, includes a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) facility extending from just east of the Northern State Parkway to Route 112. On the Route 347/454 overlap, where an expressway with flanking service roads in provided, the HOV lane is isolated from 2 general use lanes in each direction by a striped buffer. East of the overlap, where some traffic signals are retained with jughandle operation, the HOV lane is isolated from 3 general use lanes in each direction with a striped buffer. Modified cloverleaf interchanges are provided at Route 25 and County Road 97. All other grade separations are of the single point diamond type. All remaining signalized intersections west of Route 112 receive a jughandle treatment. As with Alternate 5, this alternate reduces vehicle demand by encouraging the use of carpooling. The concept behind HOV facilities is that the HOV lanes will move faster than the general use lanes and encourage people to carpool. This results in a reduction in the overall number of vehicles on the highway, additionally improving levels of service for the general use lanes. 101 Click Here To View Figure 21 102 Click Here To View Figure 22 103 D-1.2.8 Alternate 8 - Six Lane Limited Access Highway with Two Lane One Way Service Roads From the Northern State Parkway to Route 454 and a Six Lane Arterial East of Route 454 to Route 25A With Jughandles and Some Grade Separations This reconstruction alternate, shown in Figure 23, involves the construction of an expressway type facility with service roads from the Northern State Parkway to the Route 454/347 diverge. East of the Route 454 diverge a six lane arterial would be provided with grade separations at critical intersections. Modified cloverleaf interchanges are provided at Route 25 and County Road 97. At all other grade separations, single point diamond interchanges are proposed. At locations where interchanges are not provided, "jughandle" type operations would replace standard intersection type improvements. At these locations left turns from Route 347 to the side streets would be accomplished as a thru movement from the side street. With this alternate capacity is greatly increased along the Route 347/454 overlap segment. The grade separations eliminate the bottlenecks caused by the traffic signal locations. In addition the jughandle operation eliminates the need for the long mainline left turn phases, allowing this time to be used for mainline thru traffic. D-1.2.9 Alternate 9 - Modified Eight Lane Limited Access Highway Without Service Roads From the Northern State Parkway to Route 454 and a Four Lane Arterial East of Route 454 to Route 25A With Grade Separations and Some Short Service Road Segments for Circulation This reconstruction alternate, shown in Figure 24, differs from previously discussed alternates both between the Northern Parkway and Route 454 as well as from Route 454 to Route 25A. This alternate was developed to arrive at an alternate which Town of Smithtown planners and environmentalists, several Brookhaven civic associations and general public requested. That is, an alternate that minimized intrusion into the wetlands, added no more thru lanes to Route 347 and eliminated traffic signals. On the western end, although a limited access eight lane highway is proposed, service roads are not included with the exception of a short segment between the bridges at Old Willets Path and New Highway for circulation. East of the Route 454 diverge, the existing two lanes in each direction are retained. However, all traffic signals with the exception of the one at Crystal Brook Hollow Road are eliminated. M ajor intersections will receive grade separation while minor intersections will not cross the mainline and be restricted to right turns in and out only. 104 Click Here To View Figure 23 105 Click Here To View Figure 24 106 Modified cloverleaf interchanges are provided at Route 25 and County Road 97. All other grade separations are proposed as the single point diamond type. In areas where successive structures are very close or where access to numerous commercial properties is required, segments of service road are provided. The location of these short service road segments are shown in Figure 24. Alternate 9 would be constructed such that, should growth exceed what is anticipated or continue past the year 2020, additional capacity can be added east of the Route 347/Route 454 overlap fairly easily. An additional third lane will fit within the proposed 34'6" median. Also, all proposed bridges, although carrying only 4 lanes of traffic, will be constructed with adequate width to handle 6 lanes of traffic. The wide median and bridges will allow the addition of a 3rd lane in each direction with minimal disruption to the other lanes and at a minimal cost. If growth management is not exercised by the Towns or growth exceeds anticipated levels, a 3rd lane in each direction may be required to accommodate future demand. D-1.2.10 Relative Assessment of Environmental Impacts of Alternatives 2 through 9 Impacts on Adjacent Property Due to Acquisition With all of the alternatives developed, some level of right-of-way takings, or property acquisition will be necessary. In all cases these takings are a mix of residentially and commercially zoned properties. Table 16 presents the estimated property acquisitions for each alternative. Alternative 10 is discussed in following sections. As evident from Table 16, the largest takings are expected with Alternative 7 due to service road segments in the Route 347/454 overlap section on the west and an eight lane arterial east of that point with HOV facility. All alternatives with the exception of Alternative 2 result in displacement of businesses and residences. It should be noted that a significant portion of the takings would occur on side streets where the approaches to Route 347 would be widened. 107.