Community watchdog: Fork poses danger in road

There is a very dangerous fork in the road at Quaker Meeting House Road and Round Swamp Road in Farmingdale. Anyone who is driving on Quaker Meeting House Road and wants to go north on Round Swamp must use the fork that cuts across westbound traffic. However, there is no stop sign for westbound drivers, only a "YIELD" painted in the road that is missing some letters. With winter here, a light snowfall will cover what's left of the YIELD and create even more danger.

- Judy Stone, Old Bethpage

We went one better than that, Mrs. Stone.

We checked out the intersection on Google Maps, whose satellite images according to the website are one- to three years old. The image showed that there used to be a YIELD sign there in addition to the pavement markings.

Then we called the Nassau County Department of Public Works with Mrs. Stone's concern and asked if the missing YIELD sign could be replaced at the Quaker Meeting House Road fork and the markings repainted.

Within a few days, the new sign was installed.

DPW spokesman Mike Martino said the YIELD markings would be repainted in the spring.

Drivers with concerns about maintenance of Nassau County roads should call 516-571-6900.

-Michael R. Ebert

There's a dangerous intersection at Rosevale Avenue (County Road 93) and Smithtown Boulevard (County Road 16) in Nesconset. The intersection was remodeled about a year ago, but we need left turn arrows to ensure our safety. There is only one left turn arrow for Smithtown Boulevard drivers turning south onto Rosevale. Everyone else is on their own and the designated turn lanes that are already there are not enough for this intersection.

- Alvina Smith, Ronkonkoma

The turn arrows are in, and we're told the project was already on the county's radar after a post-construction investigation of the four-way intersection indicated that, indeed the additional arrows were needed.

We're told that post-construction investigations of remodeled intersections are routine and combine field observation, a review of accident history data and an analysis of turning movements.

After the results were in, the location was added to the county's list for traffic signal improvements, Suffolk Department of Public Works Gil Anderson said.

Mrs. Smith contacted us after the arrows were installed. "My family is calling them Alvina's arrows," she said.

Drivers with concerns about traffic signal on Suffolk County roads should call 631-852-4010.

-Michael R. Ebert

Oops. We thought this problem had been fixed months ago. But even a quick response from LIPA after our call couldn't prevent delays in a Glen Cove project that was keeping a Newsday reader awake at night.

Our Oct. 17 column featured a complaint from Kevin G. Ondrey whose sleep was shattered every night by the cl-unk-cl-unk, cl-unk cl-unk of trucks and other heavy vehicles driving over ill-fitting, large metal grates that LIPA used to cover an underground transformer on Pratt Boulevard.

LIPA spokesman Mark Gross told us at the time that the utility planned to relocate the transformer and the grates should be gone within a couple of weeks.

Gross' word is pretty solid when it comes to solving problems we bring to LIPA, but on Friday, we received an e-mail from Mr. Ondrey that the work hadn't been completed.

We called Gross. Turns out that the ground where LIPA planned to relocate the transformer was contaminated by the nearby gas station and the state Department of Environmental Conservation "prohibited us from putting the transformer there," he said.

That meant LIPA had to find a new location for the transformer and once again apply to the City of Glen Cove for the necessary permits.

Those two hurdles have been cleared, Gross said, and work has begun to remove the underground transformer, reconfigure the equipment and replace the metal grates with a manhole cover.

If the weather cooperates, the work should be done - really done - by the end of next week, he said.

Gross also noted that he called Mr. Ondrey to let him know about the delay, but he didn't receive a call back.