By:Carrie James
After four months, the Nassau County Department of Public Works recently released a road analysis of Salisbury Park Drive, which included Carman and Stewart avenues.
County Public Works Commissioner Joe Pecora said the study in part confirms the county's initial belief that Salisbury Park Drive is in good condition and that its main problem is speeding motorists.
"We had certain predisposed feelings," he said. "We felt the roadway was in good shape. But we got input from two community groups, so we said let's confirm that. In general, what we found is that it is in rather good shape. Even with the accident rate, we compared it to the state's average on similar roadways, and it was lower."
Still, Pecora said the comprehensive study, the most involved to date, did result in some recommendations to be completed on the county and town levels. The recommendations, Pecora said, will mostly serve in better guiding motorists to follow the law, as well as increase safety on Salisbury Park Drive and the roads that intersect it.
In all, there were just under 20 recommendations that included:
- Placing larger speed limit signs along Salisbury Park Drive from Old Country Road to Stewart Avenue, as well as possible signage along the thoroughfare from Old Westbury Road to Newbridge Road.
- Install larger signals at 10 locations along Salisbury Park Drive, Carman Avenue and Stewart Avenue to increase signal visibility. The new signals will have 12-inch faces.
- In addition to larger signals, the county proposed increasing the yellow clearance and/or red clearance interval time period to give more time for reactions and prevent accidents.
- Modify pavement markings on Salisbury Park Drive at Carman Avenue to make the right lane a right-turn-only lane.
-Install a double-yellow line along the portion of the road known as the "P" section, so that passing is prohibited.
- Design and construct a permanent speed-awareness device on the two-lane "P" section of Salisbury Park Drive.
- Install pedestrian signals at all crossings at Salisbury Park Drive and Carman Avenue, as well as signals at eight other locations in the study area. Also, they will install crosswalks at every crossing now or proposed to be controlled by pedestrian signals.
"We tried to address all the issues they [the civics and community members] brought to us, as well as some that we saw when we were out there," Pecora said. "We got the report out to the civic groups and have asked them for their input. Here's what we found and get back to us."
The recommendations have been well received by both the Community Association of Stewart Avenue and the East Meadow Civic Association, both of which have worked with county Public Works to curb safety concerns.
The East Meadow Civic Association met Wednesday, Sept. 26, to discuss the recommendations and see if any additional input is needed from its Traffic Safety Task Force, which has worked on this road for many months, said President Bob Zafonte .
"They approved many of the things we recommended," he said. "But we feel there are some other things that the county needs to address, and that's why we are meeting."
CASA president Beverly Szimanski, who Pecora said the department has worked with for years regarding improvements to Salisbury Park Drive, said she has found the report to do what was needed, which was to examine the road and see what could be done to make it safer.
"What has been done is what we wanted to be done," she said. "We wanted them to go out and examine the roadway to see if any improvements needed to be done. This time, they did a really good study and made some improvements, and maybe we'll look at this road again in a year or two."
Pecora wants to make sure that people know the proposed changes are mainly to serve as a guide to drivers that they should obey the laws.
"The largest problem is speeding, and we tried to find ways to improve the roadway and to let motorists know what their responsibilities are," Pecora said. "If people ignore them, there is nothing we can do."
As for these recommendations, Pecora said those that fall under Town of Hempstead jurisdiction have been forwarded to officials there, as well as those that apply to the Nassau County Police Department. The county hopes to implement all of them as soon as possible.
"We're going to move as quickly as possible on the things we found," he said.
