Malverne's village board makes headway on roads project

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Malverne Mayor Keith Corbett said this winter that roads damaged by utility projects would be the board’s top priority in the village election in March, and in the months since then, officials have moved forward on the village’s five-year roads improvement program.

“It was one of the promises we made during our campaign,” Corbett told the Herald, adding that the program, which started in 2016, had been delayed by utility projects last year. “It was something that was always on our plan to get done, and I wanted to make sure it got fast-tracked,” he said. “There’s a lot of bad streets, but we’re going to get them all, and we’re pushing on all cylinders trying to coordinate everyone that’s doing work in our roadways.”

Corbett said that after candid, intense meetings in recent months with the utilities, the village board established a communications plan among all parties. “It’s a relationship that’s continuing to improve,” he said, “but I think we’ve come to a natural understanding of how these roads are going to be maintained.”

The main roads that have been repaved include Wagg Avenue, Alnwick Road and Linmouth Road, which were all completed the week before Memorial Day. Corbett added that Paul Jessup, superintendent of the village’s Department of Public Works, was instrumental in coordinating with the utilities’ contractors to make sure that their work was done properly.

“There’s a whole bunch of items on the punch list,” Jessup said at a board meeting on June 5. “It’s just a matter of organizing it, trying to do it efficiently and getting the most out of it.”

Village Trustee Lauren Touchard said that being proactive with the utilities has helped get the roadway project back on track. “We still have a long road ahead of us, but we will continue to stay on top of the utility companies,” Touchard said. “We have to make sure that they continue to hold true to their time frames, and in the meantime, we’re forging ahead with our own roadway improvement program.”