Over the years, and multiple administrations, the Village of Farmingdale has moved steadily towards remaking itself into a more transit-oriented, walkable and vibrant place. The goals of the Long Island village’s efforts have been to reduce its downtown vacancy rate and attract and keep its young people.  Unfortunately, these laudable goals may be in jeopardy after a meeting found opposition among some residents to downtown apartments for fear of increased congestion.

Luckily for these residents, there’s nothing to worry about.

Downtown developments, as opposed to traditional suburban sprawl developments, tend to have the lowest impact on traffic congestion, particularly on local, collector and arterial roads. This is even more true when downtown development is coupled with transit, like the Farmingdale LIRR station and numerous (for the time being) LI Bus stops in the village.

An added factor that would likely mitigate congestion in a revitalized downtown Farmingdale is the proposed addition of greater pedestrian infrastructure. This would encourage local residents, and surrounding residents that wish to visit downtown, to walk instead of drive.

In addition, report after report indicate that the young people Farmingdale is trying to attract are looking for alternatives to automobile ownership and are less likely to drive then previous generations.

These factors, taken in sum, should alleviate the worries of many of Farmingdale’s residents.  However, more can always be done to encourage multiple transportation choices.  In the short term, Farmingdale should entice car share services like Zipcar to locate downtown, providing residents access to a car without needing to own one.  Over the long term, Farmingdale should work with NYSDOT to develop the bicycle infrastructure in the Village to support a bike-share program.  Unfortunately, the lack of existing bike infrastructure on Long Island creates a dangerous environment for those who do cycle, and it will need great improvement before many people will feel comfortable enough to do so.

The fears of unbridled congestion as a result of downtown redevelopment are unwarranted, especially in a place as transit-oriented and walkable as Farmingdale.  Moving forward with this plan could make Farmingdale a model for other Long Island municipalities looking to revitalize their downtowns, attract young people and enhance their economic competitiveness in the 21st century.

Image: TSTC using NJDOT data.