State plans to implement LIE upgrades

Long Island-based state Department of Transportation officials plan to implement many of the suggested LIE improvements outlined in a federal report on a 7.2-mile stretch of the road, and said some of those upgrades were already in the works.

"We certainly recognize the importance of the suggestions and appreciate being involved in the study and we're going to incorporate as many of these as are determined to be feasible into our regular schedule," said Eileen Peters, a spokeswoman for the Long Island region of the state Department of Transportation.

She was responding to the conclusions of a study by the Federal Highway Administration on Long Island Expressway conditions from exits 35 to 41, a segment that evaluators said had as many as 25 crashes with injuries to 24 police officers -- and one death -- in 10 years.

The 43-page report suggested the highway be retrofitted with emergency pull-off areas where officers could conduct traffic stops, better lighting and markings on the road and on signage, cameras to monitor speeders, blue strobe lights on police cars and reflective strips on officers' uniforms to increase their visibility.

Peters said the department had already begun making improvements, such as trimming trees to improve lighting. Other touch-ups, such as improving signage, lighting and pavement markings, were being upgraded already as part of regular maintenance scheduling.

Some of the enhancements include installing reflective signs, Peters said, adding that the agency would also undertake some of the more dramatic changes, such as carving out emergency pull-off areas and installing cameras.

"We are certainly going to consider that and, where possible, we will provide those and incorporate it into our annual schedule of road improvements," Peters said.

Officials conducted the study, which cost about $18,000, after Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) toured the site in the wake of the February death of Michael J. Califano. He was a Nassau police officer who was killed when a truck driver, who police said fell asleep, veered off the road and slammed into Califano while he was handling a traffic stop.

"We share Sen. Schumer's concern," Peters said. "We do whatever we possibly can to design, construct and maintain safe roads on Long Island but they must be driven safely and drivers have a responsibility to drive them while alert and sober."

AAA spokesman Robert Sinclair Jr. said analysts for the automobile association have found the LIE to be well-constructed -- except for the portion that the federal study addressed.

"That stretch does have its problems," he said. "But the LIE is an interstate highway built to standards that are far above the those of the Northern State and the Southern State."

AAA ranked the Southern State among the five worst roads in the area in 2009.