LIPA set to fix noisy Glen Cove traffic plate

I recently moved to a wonderful apartment in Glen Cove. My problem is a large steel traffic plate on Pratt Boulevard in front of a gas station. My apartment overlooks the street and I constantly hear the pounding of vehicles over this plate all day and night. It's impossible to get a full night's sleep because of the noise. I was in the underground utility business for more than 20 years but have never seen an instance where a traffic plate would be allowed to exist causing this much noise over this length of time.

- Kevin G. Ondrey, Glen Cove

REST easy, Mr. Ondrey. That disturbing cl-unk-cl-unk, cl-unk-cl-unk you heard, as the axles of each vehicle on that busy street rolled over the steel plate, should be eliminated within a couple of weeks. We called LIPA spokesman Mark Gross, who usually gets things done quickly when we point out a problem. This project had been in the works, so apparently we provided the nudge it needed to get it to the finish line.

Gross told us that the underground transformer on Pratt was covered by a manhole cover with grates. Rain would spill onto the manhole and loosen the asphalt around the grates, "creating a potential safety and service reliability hazard." The solution was to find a street level place nearby to relocate the transformer. After LIPA obtained the land, it had to obtain permits for the work from the City of Glen Cove. That's been done, so the project is expected to be finished within 10 business days. "While we are always working to improve our reliability and service," Gross said, "we also want to be a good neighbor in the community."

Anyone with a LIPA problem should call 800-490-0025.