Improvements to make Dutch Broadway safer, explained

Nassau County’s public works, finance and rules committees look to make a $550,000 investment in a traffic study to make Dutch Broadway, a road that runs between Elmont and Valley Stream, safer for pedestrians, motorists and cyclists.

A $150,000 bond and the rest of the capital expense must still be approved by the full Legislature on Aug. 7, but the investment has support. 

“Improving the safety of Dutch Broadway for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists is an essential priority for my constituents,” 3rd District Legislator Carrié Solages said, “and I am very gratified that we are able to deliver improvements that will protect residents and elevate our quality of life.” 

Activist and organizer Mimi Pierre-Johnson said she believes  the traffic study should go a bit differently than previous ones.

“When they’re doing traffic studies, they need to talk to people like myself and those of us who are on the ground,” Pierre-Johnson said. “We are the ones using traffic lights and the street. We understand what’s happening in our community. It’s always after the fact that we found out about the traffic study. That’s the thing that I would like to see changed about traffic studies. Let’s talk to the community, have a town hall. Our tax dollars would be better spent, because when things happen, we have a say in it.”

Safety improvements will include new traffic signals, improved crosswalks, more visible signage, additional digital speed indicators and improved sidewalks on Dutch Broadway. There will also be better lighting on the roads leading to Dutch Broadway.

According to Solages, sidewalk fences to keep pedestrians safe may also be included in the project. He added that it took seven years to get the new traffic signal at Dutchgate Senior Living Facility installed last year. He said the wheels of the Legislature may move slowly but they eventually get there. He also said that since improvements were made to the Dutch Broadway area in 2020, there have been fewer traffic accidents.

Pierre-Johnson has been involved in the fight for better traffic conditions on the roadway since 2008, when she wrote a letter to then-Legislator John Ciotti.

“We’ve done all that we can do,” Pierre-Johnson said. “I think now that the next step is to get drivers (to act differently), whether it be enforcement, or for the county and the town to start traffic safety measures to make sure the drivers know this area is a school area.”

Elmont school board trustee Tameka Battle feels that more can be done to improve safety on Dutch Broadway.

“While this is a huge step in the right direction to address the safety on our streets that are traveled by our scholars and community, more work needs to be done,” Battle said.

Battle hopes the traffic study will enable the county to create positive change in driver behavior. She said Elmont will work with the 5th precinct to improve traffic safety on Dutch Broadway.

Previously, Solages approved several new traffic lights and new digital speed indicators at various intersections along Dutch Broadway. He currently seeks approval for a traffic study about Linden Boulevard and working on another for North Central Avenue.

Solages also feels the $225 million invested by Nassau County is an important step to improving quality of life in Elmont and beyond. His constituents frequent places like Grand Avenue in Baldwin where there has been a sinkhole plaguing the community. He said the county also needs more housing.

“But we cannot achieve more housing if we don’t have an infrastructure to support that,” Solages said.

The main concern on Dutch Broadway is that motorists speed, causing accidents with pedestrians and cyclists.

“People have continued to speed, and that’s a concern,” Solages said. “Some people have asked me to support speed cameras, which I do not.”

The main issue, according to Pierre-Johnson, is that Dutch Broadway has several schools on it making it unsafe for children to walk along it.

Have an opinon on this article? Send an email to jlasso@liherald.com.