Culvert repair project nearing completion

Valley Stream Boulevard near the Village Green should be open in about a month, according to village officials.

The road has been closed since early April between Hicks Street and Ballard Avenue to replace a culvert, which carries a stream under Valley Stream Boulevard and into the Village Green. The old culvert, which had been built about 90 years ago, was so deteriorated that it was a safety hazard, village officials said.

The new cement culvert was built off-site and trucked in. A crane lifted it in piece-by-piece over the summer. Since then, crews have been working to finish up the site. The stream, which had been diverted through a drain pipe, is now flowing again through the culvert. And utilities which had run through the old road but had to be moved during the project, including sewer, phone and cable lines, are now back in place.

“The culvert itself is complete,” said Valley Stream Building Department Supervisor Thomas McAleer. “Now it’s just putting together the ends.”

Crews are now working to put down new curbs and sidewalks on both sides of the road. The sidewalk will be separated from the road by a low wooden rail, and from the stream by a higher wooden rail.

McAleer said that the road would be repaved in October and hopefully open to traffic again by the end of the month.

With the work in progress on Valley Stream Boulevard, village officials also decided to redo the intersection with Hicks Street. The corner has been torn up and a new concrete road will be installed at the intersection, along with handicapped accessible ramps at each corner for sidewalk access.

Mayor Ed Fare said that intersection was in bad shape and it made more sense to repair it while there was already construction going on. “We figured while we’re in here, let’s do it right,” he said.

Fare said he hopes that Hicks Street will be re-opened by the end of this month. The road was being used as part of the detour for Valley Stream Boulevard, as motorists has to use either Merrick Road or Sunrise Highway to get around the construction. The detour has been moved one block east to Franklin Avenue.

Because Hicks Street is heavily traveled by commuters, Fare said he hopes that construction wraps up quickly. There were some obstacles, he noted. After crews ripped up the intersection, they found a storm drain that was close to collapsing. Sewer caps also needed to be lowered, he said.

The village borrowed $2 million for the project. The culvert repair came in under budget, giving the village extra money to do the repair of the intersection, noted Deputy Treasurer Michael Fox.