By JOSEPH KELLARD
The meeting was designed to gather information from residents about their traffic concerns, such as speeding, congestion, traffic lights, and parking. Zapson's stated goal for this first in this professed series of meetings "is to develop a comprehensive plan to solve the ever-present traffic puzzle." Accompanying him at the meeting, held on Thursday, June 5 at Oceanside Middle School, were Forth Precinct policemen and officials from Department of Public works, to address concerns with both traffic enforcement and engineering.
Zapson informed the crowd of some 50 residents that as a legislator he has received more calls concerning traffic than any other issue. The residents in attendance voiced their concerns on issues such as congestion and speeding on both Waukena Avenue and Oceanside Road; the double and triple parking at Oceanside High School; truck traffic on Long Beach Road, West Windsor Parkway and residential side-streets; and the installation of green arrows at traffic lights.
A longtime resident of Waukena Avenue said he believes the extensive bumper-to-bumper rush-hour traffic that forms along that road between Brower and Skillman Avenues is due to recent timing changes to the traffic signal at the Brower-Waukena intersection.
Raymond Ribeiro, assistant director of traffic engineering for Nassau County, said that as part of a large federal aid project, the county upgraded the signals along Atlantic Avenue two years ago.
"Since we got a lot of complaints from [residents], we made changes as part of that federal aide project," Ribeiro said.
The major change he believes has impacted the flow of traffic on Waukena is the installation of a green light at Ayers Place, a side street at the Atlantic-Waukena intersection that previously had a flashing yellow light when Waukena's signal turned green. "It was impossible for [the motorists on Ayers] to get out," he said.
When the county installed the green signal at Ayers, it had to shorten the timing at the light at the Waukena-Atlantic intersection.
Susan O'Sullivan, who lives on a street off that section of Waukena, said that motorists on Ayers can use other streets to exit that area, such as Fortesque Avenue, and that the volume of traffic on Ayers is comparatively minuscule.
"I have to provide for the people coming out on Ayers," Ribeiro said, but added that he will look into changing the timings to potentially create a better traffic flow on all streets in that area.
Another resident suggested that Oceanside Road is an area police should focus on for speeders, since it is a thoroughfare where Schools 4, 5 and 6 are located. A resident who lives on the bend on Oceanside Road at Sunnyside Road said that the way motorists speed there is "a disaster waiting to happen."
Ray Lichtenstein used the same phrase to describe the heavy traffic that forms on Skillman Avenue in front of Oceanside High School before and after school, in which motorists double and triple park and students cross the street between these cars.
Responding to complaints about congestion along Oceanside and Long Beach Roads, Ribeiro said that as part of its aid project, each traffic light on these two roads was rebuilt and interconnected with one another, and all connect to a central computer system in Mineola that monitors traffic on these major roads.
"The timing that the signals actually change depends on how many people are on the road and what direction they're going in," he explained.
If there is a heavy northbound flow of traffic on Oceanside Road, for example, the computer system changes the timing of the individual signals to favor that flow, he explained. If later in the day, the traffic reverses, the computer system detects that and reverses itself.
In the midst of residents' voicing of their concerns, Peter Gerbasi, commissioner of public works, said about the efforts to correct the complexities of these problems, "Traffic is incredibly hard to deal with. We can't make people drive less. ... What we have to do is balance [the traffic concerns everyone has], but that balance has to be done in light of the fact that there's an awful lot of cars on the road and there are an awful lot of people on the road to do the right thing."
"The purpose of this meeting is not to solve everyone's traffic problems," Zapson said, "but to let the police department know where the problems are so they can look at those areas on their patrols."
Sgt. Tom Lavin of the fourth precinct noted the residents' complaints, and vowed renewed or increased enforcement in these areas. Receiving support from one resident who said police are limited in resources and manpower by county budget cuts, Lavin said that the police work hard and do what they can, but that they can't be everywhere.
"I think we're the number one precinct in the county ticket-wise," Lavin said. "Our cops are out there doing a very solid, absolute job every single day."
Residents discussed how, outside of police enforcement and county engineering, driving in Oceanside could be improved, and agreed that it begins with common courtesy.
Evelyn Hanlon, a new resident on Fortesque Avenue who lived in Garden City, said, "Traffic has been a horror for us. We are in culture shock when it comes to traffic. Drivers are too aggressive, they are not courteous, and we are not nice to each other."
"Having driven all of Long Island," said a 48-year resident of Oceanside, "I found that [people who live in Oceanside], are not some of the nastiest people, but some of the nastiest drivers. They're not courteous. They have no regard for other drivers."
Another resident said that she believes the heavy traffic motorists must often contend with leads them to "road rage."
Lavin said that the type of motorists and traffic problems face in Oceanside are the same throughout the county.
Zapson said that there would be a follow-up meeting in another month or two and that he would like to hold them on a continuing basis.
