By KIMBERLY ACEVEDO
It's pretty bad. The potholes, the unevenness, Harmon Street resident Ronnie Sloane said. It floods during the rain.
While most of the streets in Long Beach appear to be in good condition many due to renovations in the last 10 years after decades of neglect there are still a few that need a little city-funded TLC.'
It's getting a lot worse, Harmon Street resident Arthur Sorenson said. His 79-year-old father has difficulty walking on the street, he said.
But Harmon Street isn't the only canal street that's all shook up. Clark Street is littered with cracks and potholes. They are broken up, they have potholes, Clark Street resident Stanley Unger said. It's really bad.
Elsewhere in the East End of town, the 200 block of East Chester Street, on the same street as the Hess service station, has several problems. Besides surface cracks, it's one of the most heavily traveled streets, East Chester resident Kathleen Medrano said. Anyone who gets gas comes up this block.
In the West End, the 300 block of West Fulton, 600 block of West Market and the 700 block of West Chester were considered to have some of the worst surfaces. On Fulton, residents have frequently complained of the pot holes, especially since they have been filled but to no avail.
But Charles Elioseff, a West Fulton resident, feels that most of the damage to the streets is caused by the school buses.
On West Chester Street, repairs were planned but never followed through, according to city officials. When it came time to clean up the block, the funding simply wasn't there.
Costly endeavors
Officials say, street reconstruction projects have been prepared for many blocks, but a lack of financing plays a major role. In the past, the city has received $250,000 from the Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program (CHIPS) for street maintenance. Grant money from the state has been used for street maintenance but sometimes the finances are bonded, Long Beach public works commissioner Rob Raab said.
And sometimes that isn't enough to keep expensive road repairs from slipping through the cracks. Four canal streets have plans drawn but the work is on hold, Raab said. This is a $2-million-plus worth of work, He said. So it's a matter of finances now.
As the city selects which roads to repair each year, some roads, which look fine on the surface, have deeper issues. Recently, the city has kept streets with deteriorating sewer systems on the top of their priority list.
In many locations, where we rip the road up, you can't even find the sewer, Raab said. It's corroded, it's decayed, it's collapsed, it's just gone, there's just no pipe there. It's gone.
Normally the underground utility deterioration can't be seen on the surface, Raab said. But that's not the only reason why streets have been replaced. Park Avenue, Long Beach Road and Broadway were restored because they obviously have a high volume of traffic and impact the most people, Raab said.
Overlays don't cut it
Repairing streets isn't easy, officials say. If the street surface is in fair condition, the cracks can be sealed and then an asphalt overlay can be placed. An asphalt overlay would cost the city $40,000 to $50,000 per street and actual work would take three to four weeks.
For major repairs which include new sewers, water mains and a complete reconstruction the cost would be a half-million dollars and actual work time could take three to four months. Ocean View is currently undergoing a $650,000 reconstruction that will take more than three months, officials said. But most roads don't call for an asphalt overlay.
Even though it's sinfully cheaper, you could do ten for one, Raab said. The conditions aren't such to do so.
Repairing streets quickly is difficult to do, especially when the city only has three engineers who tend to juggle several city projects at one time. According to Raab, Long Beach is one of the only small communities on Long Island that does its own engineering, design, construction and inspections. The plans not only take several weeks to complete, but a quick overlay, where the conditions aren't warranted, won't pave the way in the long run. And it will only provide temporary and certainly not the greatest relief.
In the long run, Raab said forget about it. You're going to be back there every month doing something.
