Streetlights still out on 878

Since Hurricane Sandy struck more than two years ago, 18 streetlights along state Route 878, also known as the Nassau Expressway, have not been working and have not been repaired because of confusion over which level of government is responsible.
Though it is a state road, a segment of the expressway runs through the Village of Lawrence as well as Inwood, a hamlet in the Town of Hempstead, to the Atlantic Beach Bridge.
Because of the road’s divided jurisdiction, the Town of Hempstead’s Traffic Control Division can fix the lights only in certain areas, according to Susan Trenkle-Pokalsky, spokeswoman for the town.
“The Traffic Control division has its own streetlight division,” Trenkle-Pokalsky, explained. “If we are not notified prior, then it would take some time for us to respond to the situation. They would be repaired in-house, as part of our usual maintenance budget. Now that we are aware of this, we can take care of them.” One area where lights are out, between Central Avenue and Rock Hall Road, she added, is part of Lawrence, where the town doesn’t have jurisdiction to fix them.
Atlantic Beach resident Barry Ringelheim, who commutes to an office in Uniondale each day, said he has noticed the darkness on the expressway since the October 2012 storm, and has written letters to several local, county and state leaders about the problem.

“It’s very dark on that road,” Ringelheim said. “That area at night would be the perfect place for someone to commit a crime. Also, the road conditions themselves are so bad, with the potholes, that drivers can’t see them in the dark, which also makes for dangerous driving conditions.”
State Department of Transportation maintenance crews would take care of any debris on the road but not the lights, as Joseph Brown, the DOT’s regional director, explained in a letter to Ringelheim on Aug. 11. “Street lighting falls under the jurisdiction of the Village of Lawrence,” Brown said. He forwarded a letter addressing Ringelheim’s concerns to village officials.
Lawrence Mayor Martin Oliner said that the lights are not the village’s responsibility, and that village officials have repeatedly called on the state to repair them. “The lights being out is an impending issue,” he said. “Whether it is the county or state’s responsibility, we at the village level are sitting on both to take care of this situation. We have pressed upon them that this is a safety issue of people and passengers who use Route 878. They need to immediately take care of this.”
Beau Duffy, the director of communications for the state DOT, said that villages are responsible for fixing streetlights on the village portions of state roads.

Editor’s note: Federal, state, county and village officials held a press conference on Tuesday calling for improvements on Route 878. See liherald.com/fivetowns for the story.

Have an opinion about driving on the Nassau Expressway? Send your letter to the editor to jbessen@liherald.com.