COMMUNITY WATCHDOG: Street flood poses icy danger

There's a dangerous situation that needs to be addressed on New York Avenue (Route 110) in the Huntington-Halesite area. Water has been seeping from two manhole covers and flooding the west side of the street, starting at the CVS pharmacy up to Creek Road. With freezing temperatures, the water turns to ice and cars exiting parking lots and traffic heading south on 110 get into skidding situations and there's going to be a serious accident if it's not corrected. This has been going on since the summer, but it's dangerous now that winter is here.

-William Hemme, Huntington Station

Everybody knows about the water problems on this street. It's been featured in the news when cars are under water after a heavy rain and even before we called, the state Department of Transportation (it's a state road) had sent workers there to clean up the ice accumulation, hauling it away in dump trucks, spokeswoman Eileen Peters said.

After our reader contacted us, we called Verizon because water was coming from the utility's manhole cover and collecting on the street again. Verizon sent a crew that pumped out the water, put a temporary seal on the rim, caulked it and changed the manhole cover, spokesman John J. Bonomo said.

But everyone agrees, that's only a Band-Aid solution to help motorists for now, because the area has a high water table and the water has no place to go, especially after a heavy rain or during high tides.

The hope of officials in all corners is that the DOT's $18.4 million state-funded project to eliminate the chronic road flooding in this area will put the kibosh on water problems that have plagued this nearly one-mile stretch for years. It's been a long time coming. Project development began in 1992, and construction is expected to begin in spring after a bid is awarded.

Readers who want to report problems on state roads and highway should call the DOT's Regional Maintenance group at 631-952-6702.

Parking on Dutch Broadway

Good news for Elmont reader Craig Keller, who contacted the Community Watchdog team after the Town of Hempstead installed No Stopping Any Time signs on the poles in front of his and his neighbors' homes, eliminating their street parking on Dutch Broadway.

Keller told us that he and his neighbors needed the shoulder for parking and as a buffer from fast traffic and was frustrated because he believed that town and county officials were not listening to his concerns. A week ago, the signs were removed and street parking has been restored, Hempstead Town spokesman Michael Deery said.

On Jan. 24, we wrote about Keller's problem in trying to get the signs removed. He said some of his neighbors had not been notified that Nassau County planned to eliminate the shoulder in front of their homes to accommodate a new left turn lane for a senior housing community being built nearby. The fast-moving street is maintained by the county, which developed the plan to better eliminate rear-end collisions on it.

The town put up the No Stopping signs in preparation for the new turn lane. But after hearing about the concerns of Keller and others, Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray told us that the town would work with the county to come up with an alternative solution that would be fair to the other single family homeowners, including Keller, and the developer of the senior condo complex.

Deery said the signs were removed from poles in front of five homes, including Keller's and county engineers are studying whether they can devise a way to restore street parking to more homes.

Audible signals for Hewlett

In September, we wrote about Jay Cohn of Hewlett and his legally blind son Akiva, who asked for our help in obtaining a series of audible walk signals at the busy intersection of Broadway and Franklin Avenue in Hewlett.

After our call, the Nassau County Department of Public Works conducted a traffic study to determine whether the installation was needed.

The verdict is in: New signals are on the way.

"We're in the design phase right now," said county spokesman Michael Martino. "It's expected to be installed by fall."

The "accessible pedestrian signals" are designed to communicate with visually impaired or elderly pedestrians by using audible tones, verbal messages and vibrating surfaces at the push button location.

Factors that determined the need for installation included the intersection's geometry, the volume of pedestrians and the frequency of use by visually impaired individuals.

Former Public Works Commissioner Ray Ribeiro has said if the signals aid only one visually-impaired person, that's enough reason to install them.

To request a walk signal on a county road, write the Public Works Department at 1194 Prospect Ave., Westbury, NY 11590.

-Michael R. Ebert