West Shore Road to partially reopen on Friday

West Shore Road in Mill Neck, which has been closed since superstorm Sandy undermined it, will partially reopen Friday.

The southern third of the road — six-tenths of a mile south of Cleft Road — will reopen fully for traffic by 5 p.m., Nassau County public works spokesman Mike Martino said Thursday.

But the official detour between Oyster Bay and Bayville/Centre Island will remain where it has been since the storm, and Martino urged drivers to keep using it because of expected construction delays on the newly reopened section of road.

Many of those who know the local roads are expected to use West Shore Road and Cleft Road as a new shortcut to avoid steep Mill Hill Road in Mill Neck until the full two miles of West Shore Road reopens.

No date has been determined for that, but the county has said it will be before the Fourth of July. The county also said it will try for partial reopening at certain times of at least one lane before the project is finished.

After completion of $5 million in emergency repairs and the first of three phases of a previously planned reconstruction, there is no timetable yet for construction of the second phase. But Martino said design work is ongoing.