Austin Boulevard study moving forward

This fall, if all goes according to plan, Island Park residents should start seeing workers in reflective vests on Austin Boulevard — the first step in a long-awaited traffic survey to determine the feasibility of adding a center median to the road.

Last week, Nassau County awarded a contract to the Melville-based RBA Group to conduct a traffic study of the notorious street. The contractor will begin its study of Austin Boulevard soon.

"Unfortunately, I had been hoping this contract would have been awarded and everything would have been done so the study could be started in the summer," said County Legislator Denise Ford, who represents Island Park. "Because we need to capture months [of traffic]. It's not just where they look at it for a couple of days and then decide what they're going to do."

The study will examine traffic patterns on the boulevard in different seasons — spring and winter, when school is in session, and summer as well. Since the contract was only awarded recently, however, the survey cannot begin for a few weeks, meaning that surveyors will miss their opportunity to do a summer study this year — and the survey will not be completed until next summer.

The idea of adding a median to the dangerous road — the Nassau County Police Department reported 90 accidents on Austin Boulevard from June 1, 2009 to May 31, 2010 — was raised nearly two years ago, in October 2008. Ford and then-Legislator Jeff Toback promised their support for the study at a meeting of the Island Park Civic Association. The county set aside the money for the study — $500,000 — in its 2009-10 budget.

"It's long overdue to do some kind of improvement on that road," said Island Park Mayor Jim Ruzicka. "That road is probably one of the most dangerous in Nassau County. Sometimes I think the police deny that, but being in the Fire Department, we got a lot of calls on that road. So any survey that will help us move along and improve that condition over there would be greatly appreciated."

Ruzicka acknowledged that Austin Boulevard falls outside the boundaries of the village, but he also said that what happens on the road affects many village residents.