Gov OKs Wantagh Parkway guardrail

Gov. David Paterson gave the green light for the New York State Department of Transportation to install a guardrail along the Wantagh Parkway bike path at an Oct. 22 meeting with state Sen. Charles Fuschillo, Assemblyman David McDonough, and the family of Matthew Scarpati, who was killed on the path by an allegedly drunk motorcyclist this past summer.

The new guardrail will be what DOT spokeswoman Jennifer Post described as a "cable design," which will consist of three metal cables suspended by posts reaching about 33 inches high, spaced roughly 10 feet apart.

Post said the project is expected to be put out to bid by February and completed by next fall. She said it is anticipated to cost around $800,000, which she said is less than the cost of a solid metal rail would have been.

Fuschillo and McDonough reached out to Paterson about installing a guardrail after being presented with a petition signed by thousands of people, and more that 2,000 people joined a Facebook group called "Guard Rail for Wantagh Parkway Bike Path."

Scarpatti, a 19-year-old college student from Dix Hills, was fatally struck by a motorcyclist who was allegedly drunk and driving more than 100 miles per hour. Scarpatti had stopped t change a flat tire on his bicycle while riding on the path on July 20.

Earlier this year, the DOT permanently closed the northbound traffic lane closest to the bike path, which runs from Cedar Creek Park in Seaford to Jones Beach.

"It's something we've been fighting for a long time," Fuschillo said. "It's a step in the right direction toward making the path safer."

"You can't prevent people from speeding and you can't prevent some of the crazy things they do, but hopefully we can stop them from ever getting across there again," McDonough said.

"We're very happy were going to make sure it gets done, and quickly, so this doesn't happen to anyone else," Matthew Scarpati's brother Chris said.