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Fog/Mist Overdue upgrades coming to Shore Road in S.C., G.C.
Shore Road, a road residents see as a major safety concern, will get an overdue upgrade in the coming months.
The road, which runs from Glen Cove to Sea Cliff, has been a cause for concern for over a decade due to issues such as speeding, drainage and the danger posed to bicyclists and pedestrians.
Shore Road starts in Glen Cove, coming off Glen Cove Avenue running along City Stadium Park and turning into The Boulevard at Sea Cliff Beach. Numerous restaurants, homes and organizations reside to either side.
For decades the road has been a source of complaints and issues stemming from its outdated infrastructure and design, as well as a lack of policing to reduce speeding. The situation became so bad that back in 2018, Shore Road resident Lora Cusumano decided to take action and founded the Shore Road Neighbors Group, a Facebook page of like-minded residents who came together to affect what they said were desperately needed changes.
“Basically, there were people speeding, safety issues, the tremendous amount of garbage on the roads, and we’re just looking to make it a nicer, safer place for everyone,” Cusumano said. “Through the years we’ve had some accomplishments; we got the speed limit lowered and we got a dog poop station set up on the street.”
Last February, Shore Road resident and Sea Cliff village administrator Bruce Kennedy was hit by a car’s side mirror while walking his dog. Kennedy explained that a resident’s trash pile had forced him to leave the sidewalk, and while walking around a parked car, two vehicles sped past him, the first one barely missing him while the second clipped his shoulder.
“Thank God that was all that happened, you know. My dog didn’t get squashed and I wasn’t hit by the bumper,” Kennedy recalled. “But the force of getting hit by that spun me around, my hat came off, my glasses came off, and the two cars just continued. They didn’t even stop.”
Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whittonhas worked with the SRNG for the last four years for improvements and safety measures to be added to the road. She is working on a similar project on Manorhaven Boulevard in Port Washington, and has already helped the Shore Road project by conducting traffic and police studies.
Most importantly, she arranged for a $5 million Shore Road improvement project that will begin in the coming months, although there is no start date as of yet. DeRiggi-Whitton said the funding has been set aside from Nassau County’s capital fund specifically to pay for the project, so the cost won’t come from a new tax levy or other sources that will hurt residents’ wallets.
An important part of this project will be redesigning the road to look more like the residential street that it is, she said, to help reduce the traffic volume and discourage larger vehicles from using it. The money will also fund improving Shore Road’s drainage system, which has proven to be insufficient when extreme weather hits, such as when Tropical Storm Henri struck Long Island last year causing serious flooding.
“The volume is just really excessive, and with the continuation of development in Glen Cove it’s only going to get worse,” DeRiggi-Whitton explained. “What we’re trying to do is come up with different ways to combat it and give it more of a neighborhood feel. That way it might deter people, especially trucks and deliveries, from choosing Shore Road for their route, and to make people who do use the road more cognizant of the fact that people do live there.”
Although a planned meeting with the SRNG and Nassau County Department of Public Works had to be adjourned at the last minute on June 29, a meeting has been scheduled for July 13 at 2 p.m. This will feature a presentation of the NCDPW’s concept for what the new road could look like, with an opportunity for residents to comment and ask questions regarding the plans.
