An expansion project at the Green Acres Mall five years ago has not had a significant impact on traffic, a recent report shows.
A follow-up traffic study was required of Vornado Realty Trust, owners of the Valley Stream mall, after the construction of BJ’s Wholesale Club and Best Buy. According to the report, which was completed by VMI-Maris Traffic Consultants, present traffic volumes are lower than had been predicted in a 2004-05 study.
Dominick Minerva Jr., attorney for the mall, said that the follow-up traffic study was completed at the request of the state, county, town and Mill Brook Civic Association. He said that the study had to be done after all the new buildings were complete and businesses were operating for some time.
The worst of the dozen is Sunrise Highway at Mill Road and Central Avenue. Though traffic at the intersection is better than predicted in the 2004-05 study, there are still significant delays. Engineers looked into the possibility of widening Central Avenue and Mill Road, however that can not be accomplished because of the nearby train tracks. Central Road passes underneath the tracks less than 100 feet from Sunrise Highway, leaving no room for additional lanes.
Inside the mall property, it was noted there are significant backups on Green Acres Road because of cars waiting to turn left to go to Home Depot. “The problem is that left turn lane gets so clogged it blocks the other lanes,” Tenzer said.
The study recommends re-timing the traffic light at that intersection to accommodate the turning traffic. Minerva said this recommendation will be further reviewed to see what modifications can me made to improve traffic flow.
Tenzer said although it was not recommended in the report, he wants to have a left-turn signal added on Mill Road for Roosevelt Avenue. “I feel it’s necessary,” he said. “I’m going to push for it again.”
Town Councilman James Darcy said he was pleased to hear the traffic study was completed. “Anytime you have a proposed expansion, you want to make sure the expansion isn’t going to be causing problems,” he said.
Tenzer said in the five years since the expansion, he is pleased that there hasn’t been an additional traffic burden on the Mill Brook community.
He noted that Green Acres Mall management has taken care of other issues such as repairing broken planks and removing graffiti on the sound barrier between the shopping center and the residential community. “They agreed to do whatever it takes to make up happy,” he said, “and they’ve kept their word 100 percent.”