Village News

The path to safer roads in Valley Stream

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Discussions about road safety in Valley Stream began again after a Central High School student was hit by a car on Sept. 13 at the intersection of West Merrick Road and Fletcher Avenue — just one block west of the site of a crash that killed 12-year-old Zachary Ranftle in December 2014.

The student who was hit last week has not been identified, but was taken to a nearby hospital with a leg injury immediately after the crash. Carolyn Torres, a Board of Education trustee in District 30, said her daughter knew the female victim, and that she was “doing well.” Torres’s daughter was struck by a car in Woodmere last year, and she said the two bonded over their experiences.

According to the state Department of Transportation, there were 40 crashes involving pedestrians and cyclists in the Village of Valley Stream in 2015 (29 pedestrians, 11 cyclists). Ninety-four people were killed on Nassau County roads from 2012 through 2014, according to the Tri State Transportation Campaign, a non-profit advocacy organization dedicated to reducing car dependency — and Sunrise Highway had the second-highest number of deaths in that period.

A frequently discussed potential solution to the problem is the posting of additional crossing guards, but Detective Lt. Richard LeBrun, commanding officer of the Nassau County Police Department Public Information Office, said that isn’t needed.

“There is an appropriate amount of crossing guards assigned to each precinct based on the amount of crossings that need to be assigned,” LeBrun wrote in an email to the Herald.

Valley Stream Village Trustee Vincent Grasso said he thought there could be alternatives if the NCPD is unwilling, or unable, to provide added crossing guards at residents’ request.

One option for Sunrise Highway, Grasso said, is the construction of a pedestrian overpass, which would allay concerns about children crossing the road. “Maybe what we’re seeing here — because of population, because of whatever reason — Merrick Road and Sunrise Highway need some sort of pedestrian overpass,” Grasso said, “unless they’re going to redraw the school lines to where kids don’t cross these roads.”

Overpasses were discussed when developers were drawing up initial plans for the Sun Valley Towers apartment complex on heavily trafficked Sunrise Highway, according to Grasso, but that option was deemed too costly.

Grasso said he wasn’t sure that the secret of safer streets was necessarily more crossing guards. “I’m very reluctant to dive into the solution until we know what the problem is,” he said.

Crossing guards in Nassau County are divvied up by police precinct, and are assigned based on routine traffic studies to determine problem areas. There are currently 59 crossing guards assigned to the 5th Precinct’s patrol area, 24 of which are in Valley Stream.

A 2015 study of crossing guards’ effectiveness in the city of Pittsburgh, conducted by the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Child Development/Early Childhood Partnerships, concluded that the safety of an intersection depends on the age of the person crossing.

In addition to crossing guards, the city of Pittsburgh addressed safety needs at major intersections by installing four-way stoplights, at which all traffic in an intersection stops while pedestrians cross. While this made intersections safer for older children and adults, younger children still needed adult supervision when crossing.

Nassau County agreed earlier this year to undertake a traffic study of Merrick Road in Valley Stream, at the village’s request. The county will survey a two-mile stretch of the road from Rosedale to Lynbrook, examining traffic patterns and identifying ways to make the roadway safer for pedestrians. “A traffic study generally consists of the following elements: Collect and analyze vehicular, pedestrian, accident and any other applicable information,” said Mary Studdert, spokeswoman for the Nassau County Department of Public Works.

The village has considered several measures to slow vehicles on its streets, including curb extensions and different kinds of speed bumps, though many potential solutions don’t involve village-owned roads and could create liability issues.

Central High School PTA President Robin Rodriguez-Powell said she thought last week’s incident would spark a conversation about what needs to be done in the coming weeks and months to address the issue of pedestrian safety.

Steve Smirti contributed to this story.

Do you feel safe driving or walking in Valley Stream? Send a letter to the editor to nciccone@liherald.com.