Community News

National Grid installing new piping in south Merrick

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In recent weeks, residents on Florence Street and Riverside and Colonial avenues in Merrick have been moving their cars off the streets to make way for an unannounced gas main project.

Now National Grid is tearing its way through Beach Drive, making its rounds throughout Merrick’s western peninsula. According to a National Grid representative who wished to be identified only as Barbara, the project will be ongoing for a month. 

“Either they’re checking the status of the pipes or replacing them, but it will go for a month,” she said. Although she admitted Florence Street “doesn’t ring a bell, residents should have been notified via mail that work will be done on their street.”

Some residents on the affected streets received neither phone nor mail notifications of the current work, and other residents received late notifications. “I did get a mailing from the water company and from National Grid that basically said they were going to do some work on the street and to move the cars off the streets, but I got the mailing one day before the work began,” Joe Baker, who lives on Colonial Avenue, said.

Baker, who is president of the South Merrick Community Civic Association, said he is concerned about the status of the roads after the work is complete, since workers are laying down what appears to be temporary asphalt.

“Now the big question is, cosmetically, how will the roads hold up after being patched up so much?” Baker said. “I’m happy these water pipes and gas pipes are being replaced. We don’t need a gas leak or a water main break. But the problem here is the condition of the roads after the work is finished. Does the [Town of Hempstead] have a timetable as far as repaving the streets? Are our streets on the list to be repaved?”

The town-owned roads have been left patchy, bumpy and uneven in areas where Asplundh Construction has dug trenches through the asphalt to install pipes. Baker said many residents are concerned about the long-term effect that the roads will have on cars during winter.

“If you look down Colonial, you can see a really long patch of road that looks dirty, messy and undone in some spots,” Baker said. “They look like they can disintegrate. Come wintertime, those patches won’t hold up too well, so my biggest concern is the amount of potholes that will be on the street or if the road will open up.”

Speaking on behalf of Councilwoman Erin King Sweeney, Town of Hempstead Communications Director Mike Deery said the town plans to follow up with the contracting company after the work is done.

“The contractors are required to restore the roads as previous conditions and the town will hold them to that,” Deery said. “An inspector will be sent to the affected areas after the work is done, and if the roads are not restored to previous conditions, we will take steps to fix the matter.”