Friday, November 6, 2026
When I speak with constituents, many conversations return to one central question: How can we make our roads safer? Delivering the level of safety residents demand and deserve requires a coordinated, multipronged strategy, one that anticipates problems, responds to immediate concerns and creates lasting solutions. That strategy requires proactive planning, infrastructure investment and targeted enforcement.
I recently met with Department of Public Works leadership and staff to discuss the county’s data on roadways, sewer and drainage systems, and traffic-control devices. The county must ensure that this information remains current, comprehensive and accessible to decision-makers.
This work becomes especially urgent as winter approaches. DPW’s current knowledge of our infrastructure helps the county identify vulnerable locations, coordinate repairs, prepare equipment and crews, clear drainage systems, and prioritize snow and ice operations before severe weather arrives.
I believe the professionals at DPW are doing the best they can with the resources they have. But the department is operating with significant staffing shortages, and the administration has not demonstrated that it is doing everything necessary to fill critical vacancies or presented us with an updated infrastructure plan.
Staffing shortages cannot be allowed to become a permanent explanation for delayed progress. Several corridor projects, including long-approved improvements for Clinton Avenue, Fulton Avenue and other major roadways, have remained stalled for over two years. The administration must now provide clear timelines, identify the obstacles preventing progress, and assign the staff and resources necessary to move them forward.
On Sept. 29, I joined my Town of North Hempstead colleagues to celebrate the groundbreaking of a long-awaited streetscape and traffic safety project on Westbury Avenue. Efforts to improve the roadway date back to the early 2000s and accelerated in 2017, when I was a North Hempstead town councilwoman and worked with community advocates, town officials and then-County Executive Laura Curran to move the proposal forward, securing $200,000 in town funding for its beautification elements. It was eventually included in the county’s 2023 capital plan.
The town subsequently received roughly $3 million from the county through an intermunicipal agreement, along with an additional $2 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding from the Biden administration. The continued efforts of North Hempstead Councilman Robert Troiano and the advocacy of the Carle Place Civic Association kept this project at the forefront and helped bring us to this important milestone.
Throughout District 2, I will maintain this focus on delivering improvements along some of the county’s busiest and, in some cases, most dangerous roadways. In Westbury, the $8 million Brush Hollow Road streetscape and traffic safety project is in the design phase. In Hicksville, plans are advancing for pedestrian circulation and traffic-safety improvements surrounding the Long Island Rail Road station and downtown.
In Hempstead Village, a vital crossroads for the county, design work is underway for major traffic safety and streetscape projects along Washington Avenue, Franklin Street, Peninsula Boulevard, Clinton Avenue and Fulton Avenue, with funding secured by former legislator and now State Sen. Siela Bynoe.
Nearby, in Uniondale, I am advocating for traffic-calming and pedestrian-safety improvements at the intersection of Uniondale Avenue and Front Street, building on recently completed work along Uniondale Avenue. Together these investments will modernize heavily traveled corridors, improve safety, strengthen local business districts and help residents move through their communities more confidently.
Targeted enforcement is also crucial, because residents deserve a response to dangerous conditions affecting their neighborhoods. We have focused on speeding along major thoroughfares, including Westbury Avenue, in Carle Place; Urban and Prospect avenues, in New Cassel; Uniondale Avenue; and Brush Hollow Road. We have also addressed the persistent problem of commercial vehicles unlawfully using residential streets as shortcuts.
Across the district, more than 200 tickets have been issued for traffic and commercial vehicle violations on residential streets. I thank the Nassau County Police Department for listening to residents and dedicating the resources necessary to disrupt these recurring patterns.
Safer roads require more than responding after something goes wrong. They require proactive, data-driven planning, sustained infrastructure investment and targeted enforcement that holds unsafe drivers and commercial operators accountable.
I will continue to shine a light on these needs and advocate for the resources required to protect the residents of District 2 and everyone who relies on our roadways.
Viviana L. Russell represents Nassau County’s 2nd Legislative District.
