Nassau County quietly canceled a bike path at Atlantic Beach fatal crash site

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman's administration quietly canceled a long-planned protected pedestrian and bicycle path on a stretch of road in East Atlantic Beach where a hit-and-run driver killed a cyclist last week, according to residents, county lawmakers and planning documents.

When county contractors began work on the road work last fall, local residents were surprised to learn the county had scrapped the shared-use path, instead repaving the strip’s existing sidewalks and installing new drainage.

After a lengthy community-driven planning process, the county under a previous administration greenlit the path and a "road diet" along that part of Beech Street. It would have narrowed part of the stretch from four lanes to two, plus a turning lane, a measure engineers say slows drivers down even when police aren't present. The extra space would have been used for a path for cyclists and pedestrians, separated from the road by a grassy strip. The original plan also included drainage improvements for the roadway.

Atlantic Beach resident Kevin Kelley, 77, who gets around primarily by bike, said at first, he was horrified by the cyclist fatality last week. His next reaction, he said, "was anger, because this road was supposed to be protected" by a shared-use path.

Tony Thomas, 59, was riding a bicycle around 7:45 a.m. on March 24 when he was hit by an SUV on Beech Street near the intersection with Scott Drive. Firefighters pronounced Thomas dead at the scene. About three hours later, police located the vehicle and arrested the driver, Erin M. Henry, 67, of Long Beach, charging her with a felony for fleeing. She pleaded not guilty and her lawyer told Newsday "we feel horrible for the victim."

Police said Thomas was from Far Rockaway; Newsday was unable to locate a family member for comment.

Blakeman spokesman Christopher Boyle did not respond to requests for comment about the ongoing project, including why the path was eliminated.

Kelley said riding along Beech Street "was always crazy — people drive 55 miles an hour," although the speed limit is 25 mph.

Jill Raftery, who lives just north of the thoroughfare in East Atlantic Beach, is also frustrated with the county.

She doesn’t let her fifth grader cross Beech Street alone: "It's this constant struggle — he's at the age where we should be able to start to let him have more freedom, but the roads around us are just so dangerous."

Newsday’s crash map shows that in the year before Thomas’ death, at least six people were injured, three seriously, in crashes along that section of Beech Street. None were cyclists or pedestrians, but one was an 11-year-old who had to be airlifted from the scene after a crash with a drunk driver.

County Legis. Patrick Mullaney (R-Long Beach) said the Blakeman administration canceled the path and road diet before Mullaney assumed office in 2024. He wasn’t sure why, but he and Denise Ford, his predecessor in the legislature, both said while the plan seemed to have strong support in East Atlantic Beach, it was opposed by some who commute through the area.

"I'm hearing from the residents that are directly impacted, that were disappointed that the project was canceled and had a lot of questions as to why," Mullaney said. "I'm also hearing from residents, particularly on the outsides of that community ... [who] feel that when you reduce a lane, you're making the area more congested."

John Colletti, president of the East Atlantic Beach Taxpayers’ Association, thinks concerns about congestion are overblown because Beech Street already turns into two lanes at the eastern terminus of where the road diet would have been. The project would have relocated the "lane drop" about half a mile west, making space for the shared-use path along the south side of the road, about three-quarters of a mile long.

Colletti said he's upset with Blakeman, who lives about a mile away in West Atlantic Beach, for canceling the project, which could have bridged East Atlantic Beach communities on the "bay side" north of Beech Street with those on the "beach side" to the south.

"That street is such a divider," he said. "We’re trying to make it feel like a neighborhood."

Mullaney said he has worked with the county administration to make sure the road will at least get high-visibility crosswalks, blinking lights warning drivers to slow down and higher sidewalks to protect pedestrians.

The repaved sidewalks, already visible amid ongoing work nearby, are narrow in places and studded with telephone poles that pedestrians must walk around.

Plan for bicycle-pedestrian path dated to at least 2014

The plan for a pedestrian-bicycle path was first put forward more than a decade ago as part of a community planning process after Superstorm Sandy. Ford, a former Democrat who caucused with Republicans in the legislature, said the project came from residents’ concerns about children walking to school and the high speeds on Beech Street’s S-curve. Better drainage was needed because the area floods.

A committee made up of local residents and supported by engineers and flood mitigation experts published a reconstruction plan in 2014 that included the Beech Street project, estimated to cost $5.5 million at the time.

After traffic and engineering studies, the county under former Executive Laura Curran erected a billboard announcing the "complete streets and drainage" project, to be funded with a state grant. As utility preparations began in 2022, the legislature even mailed residents flyers featuring renderings of pedestrians and cyclists using the shared-use path. The accompanying road diet would "promote reduced speeds and increase pedestrian safety," the flyer said.

But by the time construction started, the county was describing the project on Beech, which turns into Park Street as it goes west, as a "drainage improvement" in official documents, with an estimated total cost of $11.3 million.

Once it became clear the county was altering the plan, Colletti said his group met with a Blakeman adviser but were unsatisfied with his explanations. One objection was the road would become too narrow to accommodate emergency vehicles, but Colletti said he "didn’t buy that" because there would still be a turning lane and no divider.

Ford said the same concern was raised when she was a legislator, but county engineers discussed it with fire departments and made sure there was enough space — and if not, any mistake could be corrected relatively easily without much cost.

Oscar Smith, East Atlantic Beach’s fire commissioner, said he is concerned about crashes on Beech Street — including a vehicle that crashed into the wall of his home last year.

Smith said he’s hopeful the ongoing construction, with the more visible crosswalks and flashing lights, will make things safer.

But others remain upset the plan was changed without a public process.

Kelley, the cyclist, said the scrapping of the path reflects a "windshield mentality" of people who drive but don't walk much or bicycle.

With the ongoing construction, he said riding on Beech is "even hairier" because the shoulder has been temporarily eliminated. Raftery added that with the ongoing construction on Beech, drivers have been speeding down side streets and blowing through stop signs nearby.

"There's no equity on the barrier island for people who don't travel by automobiles — people who travel by bicycles, or on foot, or on the bus," Kelley said. "People feel like their lives are in danger."