Turnpike repaving nearly complete

The Repaving of Hempstead Turnpike by the state Department of Transportation began in mid-May. At left, an unfinished eastbound section near the Wantagh Parkway.

Christina Daly/Herald

The East Meadow section of Hempstead Turnpike is expected to be fully repaved within two weeks, according to a Department of Transportation spokeswoman. Above, a completed eastbound section near the intersection with East Meadow Avenue.

Christina Daly/Herald

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Driving along Hempstead Turnpike has not been easy the past several weeks, as the state’s Department of Transportation continues its repaving of the major thoroughfare, which stretches across three towns and two counties. And while the night-time detours and rough roadway during the construction have caused traffic backups, most agree that fixing a busy road that has become cratered with potholes in recent years is well worth the temporary inconvenience.

“There’s no gain without some pain,” said Mitchell Allen, the president of the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce. “The only way to make it better is to step backwards and deal with all the aggravation of the slowness and the rocks knocking all over. It has to be done.”

Work along the state-maintained turnpike — officially known as New York State Route 24 — began in mid-May, over a stretch of approximately eight miles from the Meadowbrook Parkway, in East Meadow, to Route 110, in Farmingdale, across the towns of Hempstead, Oyster Bay and Huntington in Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Eileen Peters, a spokeswoman for the DOT, said on Monday that the repaving in East Meadow — from the Meadowbrook to the Wantagh Parkway — is expected to be completed in about two weeks before the work continues into Levittown. As of Monday morning, the only section still unpaved in East Meadow was the eastbound lanes between Newbridge Road and the Wantagh Parkway.

The project will cost $13.1 million, Peters said, and is being done by Hicksville-based Intercounty Paving Associates LLC, under contract with the DOT. It is the first time since 1998, she said, that the East Meadow section of the turnpike is being repaved.

Peters explained that the work is being done in sections, between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Monday through Friday, to minimize the impact on motorists. The project also includes drainage improvements, but Peters said that that work would be done next spring, once the repaving is completed.