To comply with an agreement between Longs management and nearby residents the store agreed to conduct a traffic study of its location six months after opening to determine if any traffic calming measures were needed.

The study, conducted by Fehr & Peers Transportation Consultants, determined that the number of vehicles entering and leaving Longs' parking lot at Brace Avenue was well below the percentage increase in traffic that would've required the store to install a diverter island at its Brace Avenue driveway, preventing right turns onto the residential street.

Conducted around the clock from Tuesday through Thursday between June 3 and June 12, the study found that the daily traffic increased by only 20 vehicles. Traffic would need to increase by 140 cars daily for Longs to take action.

Longs architect George Ramstad and Sue DeBorde, a traffic engineer with Fehr & Peers, along with the Lincoln Avenue Longs manager, Bob Petrequin, facilitated an hourlong community meeting July 8 at a meeting hall above Vin Santo Ristorante on Lincoln Avenue.

Among the handful of residents who attended the meeting, Ellen Santomauro, second vice president for the neighborhood association, said the association has not received any complaints regarding Longs since the store opened in November.

Petrequin used the meeting as an opportunity to answer questions from the public, one of which was how the store was faring financially.

"We're doing well," he said. "Of course, six months isn't really a long enough time to gauge how well we'll be doing in the long run. We're not in the red, but it'll be a while before we're comfortably in the black."

But if Longs business picks up, then so will traffic, Alida King suspects.

"They did the study when the economy was low," she said. "As soon as the economy comes back and people start shopping more, we're really going to feel it in our streets."

King, a Coolidge Avenue resident, added, "Counting cars in the middle of the week doesn't seem like a good idea. They should have counted vehicles on the weekends, too. That's when everyone's running errands and traffic on our street increases."

Ten-year Brace Avenue resident Evelyn Gapuz said that since Longs has opened, "Traffic has gotten worse, not better."

Gapuz added, however, "It's not Longs' fault. It's not just the increased number of cars coming from Longs; it's the speeders coming from the store that we want stopped."