Community Watchdog: Removing a broken utility pole

I drive by a broken and hanging utility pole every day on Oceanside Road near Fairview Avenue in Oceanside. A new pole was put up after the nor'easter in March when the area was without power for nearly a week, but the old pole was never removed. It's been hanging there for many months now. It's a safety hazard.

- Judy Gibbons, Baldwin

Going, going, gone. To get the ball rolling, we called LIPA. The utility responded by sending workers to survey the site, pronto. LIPA spokesman Mark Gross told us the utility's wires were moved when the new pole was installed, but Verizon and Cablevision hadn't transferred their lines, so LIPA contacted them about the work that needed to be done. Within 24 hours, Gibbons called us to report that the lines were moved and the old pole was removed.

Long Island residents with problems concerning LIPA should call 800-490-0025.

-Michael R. Ebert

There have been many accidents over the years at the intersection of Dix Hills Road and Jericho Turnpike in Huntington Station. This is a five-way intersection with three traffic signals and no turning arrows. Dix Hills Road runs north-south across Jericho, but the road doglegs and does not line up. When Dix Hills gets the green light, vehicles that are trying to turn left onto Jericho wait in the middle of Jericho haphazardly while other cars going "straight" on Dix Hills Road jockey around them on either side. Many of us have written to the town to rectify this dangerous intersection, but no action has been taken.

-Lynda Weinstein, Huntington

We know this intersection well and agree with Mrs. Weinstein and several other readers who wrote about the same problem. It's chaos when traffic on Dix Hills Road get the green light because the road doglegs when it crosses Jericho, and drivers are anxious to get through the intersection before the light turns red.

Whether something will be done to remedy the problem depends on how the state Department of Transportation will interpret the findings of its investigation of the site that's under way. "We are right in the middle of a study of that entire intersection," DOT spokeswoman Eileen Peters said. A similar study was done many years ago, but the data is too old to be useful, she said. For the current investigation, on-site observers are collecting hours of data on the traffic patterns, and the errors drivers make in the intersection. They'll analyze three years of accidents to see if there's something common drivers are doing wrong to cause the crashes and figure out what improvements if any are needed to make the roads safer, such as turn arrows.

Peters said the study will be completed by the end of fall, and she'll share the results then. Stay tuned.

In the words of Hazel Kaufman-Pachtman of New Hyde Park, "Victory is sweet." After more than four years of lobbying for a left turn arrow so drivers on Marcus Avenue in New Hyde Park could safely turn left to head west on New Hyde Park Road, Nassau County has agreed with her assessment.

We wrote about Mrs. Pachtman's persistence in trying to get the arrow in our May 2 column. She contacted us because she felt her request was being ignored since she had received no response from the county. The arrow, she said, would help many older residents who attend Project Independence meetings at the Clinton G. Martin Park and families that use the Town of North Hempstead pool there to make the left turn safely. Though Mrs. Pachtman said she'd made repeated requests to the county, Public Works Commissioner Shila Shah-Gavnoudias told us her department didn't know about the issue until March 2009. She couldn't tell us how long it would take to do the study needed to determine whether there should be an arrow, but when we called county spokesman Mike Martino for an update recently, he gave us the good news: "A left turn arrow will be installed on Marcus Avenue," he wrote in an e-mail. "We are having this designed and anticipate the design will be completed by the end of October." The county hopes to have the arrow in place by December or January, he said.

Of course, it's not done until it's done and we've seen other projects that have been put on hold after they've been approved. But we're hoping Mrs. Pachtman and other drivers who will benefit from that arrow won't have to wait too long before it's installed. Stay tuned.