Monday, April 21, 2025
After years of calls from Five Towns residents to repair lighting along the Nassau Expressway near the Lawrence side of the Atlantic Beach Bridge, village officials say action is finally being taken.
The expressway, officially State Route 878, was originally proposed in 1945 as a freeway connecting the Belt Parkway in Queens to Long Beach in Nassau County.
However, after the state acquired the road through condemnation in 1963, a key segment between Rockaway Boulevard and John F. Kennedy International Airport was never constructed. Today the road serves as a major route for many residents of the Five Towns.
Lawrence Mayor Samuel Nahmias, who previously served as the chairman of the Nassau County Bridge Authority, had been working with the village to solve this issue for years.
Nahmias said that when he originally began working on fixing the lighting issue, the bridge authority found that of the 54 lights that needed work, 43 of them simply just needed new bulbs, which were replaced.
The 11 remaining lights, on Rock Hall Road, still need to be repaired, due to structural issues from 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, and wiring eroding due to saltwater.
Nahmias said the lighting has become more of an issue since the implementation of E-ZPass at the Atlantic Beach Bridge in December 2023, during his time as chairman of the bridge authority.
“In hindsight, this became more of an issue over the last several years when I was on the bridge, because we made vast improvements to the bridge with E-ZPass,” Nahmias said. “We had a lot more people utilizing that bridge because of E-ZPass. With the higher traffic that is occurring with the improvements to the bridge, you kind of see it standing out a lot more.”
State Sen. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick helped secure a $150,000 grant for Lawrence to fund structural repairs to the lights on Rock Hall Road.
Nahmias said that during his tenure as chairman of the NCBA, the village was reluctant to accept this grant from the senator.
Gerry Castro, Lawrence’s village administrator, said that there was a lack of knowledge, and an overestimate of initial cost of the project when the previous administration was looking into solving the issue.
“The reluctancy was because the initial estimate was over inflated,” Castro said. “It wasn’t done on purpose, it was done because there was a lack of investigation, and a lack of knowledge. Now we’ve really focused it and made it more finite and reduced the amount to become more manageable and more and fiscally doable.”
Lawrence had its Department of Public Works open the fencing for the lights, and had outside assessment from Hank Electric determine that the renovation of the lights would cost roughly $200,000.
The grant from Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick, is set to cover a majority of the cost for the light fixtures, with Lawrence covering the remaining $50,000.
In February, the grant was approved by the village and announced by Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick and Nahmias.
Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick said the issues with the lighting were well known in the community, and in partnership with Assemblyman Ari Brown and Nahmias, she is happy to secure funding to resolve the problem.
“It’s important that we make real investments in Route 878 because this isn’t just a local road — it’s a critical access point for thousands of commuters, residents, and first responders,” she said. “The stretch near the Atlantic Beach Bridge, in particular, has been plagued by longstanding infrastructure challenges, especially inadequate lighting.”
Upgrades to the infrastructure of the lights along the expressway, to increase visibility for motorists will be made as well.
According to Nahmias, restoration of the lights is scheduled to take place throughout April, with hopes of completion by the end of the month or in early May.
“We’re here to serve the people, and safety and security is an important priority for all villages. (Route) 878 has thousands of commuters daily going back and forth,” Nahmias said. “It’s a matter of quality of life for safety prevention, and it’s time that that issue got solved.”
Have an opinion on the conditions of the Nassau Expressway? Send letter to mberman@liherald.com.
