‘It’s an accident waiting to happen’

In what has been described as a serious safety issue, some West Hempstead and Lakeview residents continue to demand that “hazardous” conditions on Woodfield Road be addressed.

The Herald reported last September that residents who drive on the 1-mile-long road often see southbound motorists veering into the northbound lane to avoid large bumps and dips. The bumps appear every few yards, in the pavement surrounding manhole covers, in the southbound lane, from Laurel Court in West Hempstead to Lakeview Avenue in Lakeview.

Lakeview Council President Viberta Caesar previously told the Herald that the problem arose in the 1990s, when Nassau County hired a contractor — Novelli Contracting, based in Farmingdale — to repair sewers in the area. In order to reach the sewers, Caesar explained, the contractor dug up the pavement around the manholes, did the work and then repaired the pavement.

But residents asserted that the repairs were done poorly, and that the pavement began to deteriorate. “It was gradual,” Caesar said. “But today, all you can do is notice it.”

In April 2011, Caesar and others complained to County Executive Ed Mangano and Public Works Commissioner Shila Shah-Gavnoudias about the road when the two officials visited the Lakeview Public Library. Residents were told that the county was aware of the problem, and that it resulted in part from the contractor’s failure to remove concrete it had used during construction to hold up the manholes. Caesar said that Mangano and Shah-Gavnoudias promised to investigate the matter, report back to the community and see that the road was repaired by the end of the summer.

County spokeswoman Katie Grilli-Robles previously told the Herald that plans for a project to repair the road were expected to be finalized last October, and that work would commence this spring. But Lakeview Council Vice President Julian Jones said last week that while he and other residents have noticed some minor “patch jobs” around the manhole covers, the road remains in poor condition and is a serious quality-of-life issue.