Barrier promise along Wantagh Parkway bike path welcomed

It's early afternoon on an unusually beautiful fall day, and the parking lot at Cedar Creek Park in Wantagh looks like a bike-race staging area. There are cycles, and bike riders, everywhere, along with the occasional Rollerblader.

We're a few hundred feet away from the Wantagh State Parkway, where traffic is whizzing along. From the lot, we can hear the dull roar of traffic but can't see it.

That will change, quickly, after I jump onto my bike and begin pedaling along a path that swings back toward the woods, where a stand of foliage is just beginning to strut its bright fall colors.

The air is crisp. The path is smooth. And in less than a minute, I'm easily working my way south, toward the tower at Jones Beach.

To my left, there are reeds. And in a little while, as I cross over the first of three bridges, there are marshes. I see sailboats. And wave to three fishermen near Green Island, as the air begins to take on a salty smell.

For most of the way, I am separated from the parkway by wide grassy shoulders and painted roadway markings. I can see the traffic, and the traffic can see me.

Still, it's unsettling, because while shoulders and painted markings provide distance, they provide no barrier. If a driver decides to pull over on a shoulder of the parkway, it will be near to where I am pedaling. And if a driver loses control and suddenly careens my way, there's nothing I can do to protect myself.

The miles fly by, even though the path narrows significantly where it crosses over two bridges and a causeway. At Jones Beach, I find myself traveling through a small sea of empty bike racks. This is the end of the line for bike riding during the busy summer and spring season.

On a fence nearby is a poster bearing a picture of Matthew Scarpati, 19, a cyclist, who was killed on the path as he was repairing a tire. He died after being struck by a motorcycle that had, according to police, careened out of control.

"A guardrail could have saved his life," the poster reads.

Hopefully, it will save the next cyclist, with the news late Thursday from Gov. David A. Paterson, who met with Matthew's parents on Long Island, that state transportation officials would install a protective barrier system between the parkway and the bike path.

That will be a welcome addition for cyclists like Bruce Huner, 73, of Wantagh.

Cars on the parkway don't bother him, he said. "It's the motorcycles. They come screaming by like the hammers of hell and I have seen some of them doing wheelies."

Jordan Strump, 28, of East Meadow, said he favored guardrails, too - but only along portions where the Wantagh curves.

Strump stopped to stretch near the bike racks. But then he kept on going. In the fall and through most of the winter, cyclists are allowed to ride beyond the racks.

It wasn't long before I kept biking, too. Past the empty VIP parking lot of the theater and the playground and onto two miles of boardwalk. When I stop, there's not another soul in sight. The birds, wind and waves keep me company. And in that moment, I know why the Ellen Ferrant Wantagh Bike Path is one of the best bike rides on Long Island.

On the return trip, for miles, my back is to the traffic.

I can't see the drivers.

I can only hope they see me.