Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (at podium) and Nassau County Legislator Howard Kopel (at Goldfeder’s l.) hosted in October to call on the state to improve roads and emergency evacuation route signage along the Nassau Expressway and connecting roadways in southern Queens and southwestern Nassau County.
File Photo
In October 2012, residents evacuating Superstorm Sandy were directed by emergency personnel to one area, while signs clearly indicated another. Confusion ensued. Those evacuation signs have not been updated since.
This week the Office of Emergency Management announced the planned installation of new, corrected emergency evacuation route signage throughout southern Queens and Rockaway. The installation will be handled by the city’s Department of Transportation and is expected to occur before next summer.
Last May, Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Ozone Park) sent a letter to city Commissioner of Transportation Polly Trottenberg urging the Office of Emergency Management to take immediate steps to ensure designated evacuation routes and signage are updated and maintained regularly. In October, he held a rally with Nassau County Legislator Howard Kopel to demand improved signage and infrastructure repairs along the Nassau Expressway. The same month, Goldfeder hosted a roundtable discussion with OEM and local community leaders to discuss the experiences of Superstorm Sandy and better prepare for future storms. Most recently, he called for an investigation into the electrical failure earlier this month of the Marine Parkway Bridge that stranded thousands of commuters for hours. The bridge, the Nassau Expressway, and the Cross Bay Bridge are the only three evacuation routes for residents of the Rockaway Peninsula.
As Goldfeder has noted many times, there were two full evacuations in southern Queens and Rockaway in three years, both times on short notice. “We need to be proactive instead of reactive when it comes to emergency preparedness,” said Goldfeder. “Having these new signs in place ahead of the next hurricane season will ensure our families know the way to safety well before the next emergency hits.”
By Forum Staff
