Photo: Assemblymen Phil Goldfeder and Todd Kaminsky this week blasted state DOT for not including Route 878 on the Accelerated Repaving Project list. But state officials said repaving work on a section of 878 got underway on Wednesday. Courtesy of AA Roads
Two state elected officials this week blasted the Department of Transportation for its decision to exclude NY 878 from this year’s $75 million Accelerated Repaving Project.
Assemblymen Phil Goldfeder (D-Howard Beach) and Todd Kaminsky (D-Nassau) fired off a letter to NYSDOT Region 10 Director Joseph Brown, lamenting what they characterized as the noticeable absence of Route 878, which spans 5.69 miles from Ozone Park to southwest Nassau County, from the list of 428 miles of roadway that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has pledged to repave.
Goldfeder and Kaminsky cited the most recent state Traffic Volume Report released by NYSDOT in 2012, which indicated that 38,000 vehicles per day traveled along Route 878 at the intersection with Bayview Avenue in Lawrence. By contrast, many of the upstate roadways included in the Accelerated Repaving Project list experience Annual Average Daily Traffic well below 10,000 vehicles, with Route 76 in Chautauqua County seeing as little as 1,025 vehicles a day, according to the report.
“NY 878 serves as a designated evacuation route for…South Shore and Queens residents…in the event of flooding or other natural disasters…We strongly believe that more work must be done to make this road safe and easy to travel,” Goldfeder and Kaminsky wrote.
NYSDOT has proposed a Nassau Expressway Operational Improvement Project to address traffic operational and safety issues, poor pavement and drainage conditions, and aesthetic problems along the route. However, Goldfeder and Kaminsky said, the project isn’t expected to begin until 2023, with an anticipated completion date in fall of 2025.
“The 878 is one of only three evacuation routes for the 130,000 families living in Rockaway,” Goldfeder said. “The state’s policy of deferred maintenance allows this vital route to continue to deteriorate and puts our lives at risk. Rockaway families pay their taxes just like every other New Yorker and we deserve to see a portion of the state road repair funds dedicated to our critical infrastructure.”
According to an NYSDOT spokeswoman, a project to repave Route 878 between Burnside Avenue and Rockaway Turnpike in the town of Hempstead began on Wednesday, “and is scheduled to take place each weeknight for about three weeks, weather permitting.“
By Michael V. Cusenza
michael@theforumnewsgroup.com
