Farmingdale getting $1M in road improvements next year

Nassau County plans to make nearly $1 million in road improvements on Farmingdale's Main Street next year, County Executive Edward Mangano announced Thursday.

The work includes "bump-out crosswalks" and improvements to street drainage, curbs, sidewalks and pavement. Bump-out crosswalks are sidewalks that extend into what had been a parking lane to make pedestrians more visible to motorists and shorten the distance to cross the street.

"This is an outgrowth of working together on the transit-oriented housing development, and part and parcel of that is to tie in the business district as well as the transit," Mangano said in front of Farmingdale village hall. The work will help make the downtown more pedestrian-friendly, beautify the district, and boost jobs and economic growth, Mangano said.

The road is owned and maintained by the county. The $978,590 project, approved last month, was spearheaded by outgoing county Legis. Joseph Belesi and Mangano. The contract was awarded to Deer Park-based Tri-State Paving Inc. by competitive bid. The work is expected to last three months.

Mayor Ralph Ekstrand said the planned work improves "walkability on Main Street and increases our economic growth."

Mangano said that other county municipalities could see transit-oriented development, citing federal planning funds awarded by the county in Valley Stream, Baldwin and Lynbrook.

The work in Farmingdale grows out of the village's downtown master plan approved in 2011 to encourage development on Main Street and around the Long Island Rail Road station through zoning changes.

Thursday's announcement follows the groundbreaking Wednesday on a 154-unit housing and retail development next to the station called Jefferson Plaza. That project is expected to cost $59 million and will benefit from tax subsidies.