Due to the persistence of elected public officials, the village officials and most of all the residents involved, the Department of Transportation (DOT) reconfigured its proposed plans for the turning lanes on both the north and south side of New Hyde Park Road and Jericho Turnpike.

At a meeting, held last Monday, officials from the DOT met again at New Hyde Park Village Hall and presented revised plans that will greatly modify the original plans for the turning lane scheduled for construction in late winter and early spring of 1999.

North Hempstead Town Councilman Angelo Ferrara, of New Hyde Park, who made many suggestions to the DOT at the initial meeting with the residents, commented after studying the revised plans, "A proposal was originally made that I don't think anybody could live with, yet something had to be done to correct the traffic problem at this corner. I think the DOT has presented a really good compromise. It will solve the traffic problem, yet won't have the impact of the original plan on the residents. I would just like to thank the DOT for listening to the people and for being so responsive by modifying the plans."

In introducing the state officials, New Hyde Park Village Mayor Warren Tackenberg said that he felt everyone at the meeting, basically the surrounding neighbors, were all aware of the project. He then requested that one of the DOT officials explain the modification to the assembled group.

DOT Consulting Engineer William Stroh, of Berger/Lehman Associates, of Plainview, explained that in the original plan they had provided for two 11-foot turning lanes, a sidewalk and room for storage of six cars. He said, "What we did was basically went back and took another look to see what we could do to modify our plans to find ways to reduce the amount of property we had to take."

Stroh continued, "Originally, we had 11 property takings; six on one side and five on the other. Now, we have eliminated four residential property takings on the south side and eliminated one property taking on the southeast corner of Washington Avenue and New Hyde Park Road. In reference to another residential property and the three gas stations and the New Hyde Park Village Hall, we have reduced the amount of property acquisition. Further, we have reduced the width of the sidewalk from 10 feet to 8 feet and have reduced the length of the turn lane from 120 feet to 80 feet. Plus, we have reduced the width of the turn lane from 13 feet to 12 feet. So, we have reduced the property taking significantly."

Tackenberg said, "As far as I can see you are only going as far as the end of the village property on this side (southeast corner) and the end of the Shell property. Then on the northside of the street you will be taking from the Stassens' property, which will be 50 square feet, which amounts to about two and one half feet down to zero feet."

In an answer to a question as to whether or not the trees would be left on the southside Stroh assured the residents that all, except maybe two or three trees that would have to be transplanted, would remain.

One resident inquired as to what kind of signage would be added and it was explained that they would probably hang a sign from the existing stop light indicating the turn lanes. Further, it was stated that perhaps there would be posted a speed limit and maybe a no parking sign which is already in place. Tackenberg commented that as far as the sign goes there really would be nothing new and the DOT assured the residents that they would not be placed directly on anyone's property.

DOT Management Consultant, Richard Schneider, when asked how long the job would take, explained that it probably would take six months due to the many facets of the job that are involved including replacing sidewalks, curbing and paving of the street itself plus returning the drainage basins to where they belong.

Another resident wanted to know if the construction would create a lot of "mess" being tracked into her home. Schneider said that there would be an engineer on-site that would be available to the residents. He said, "If they don't clean up after every day's work, as they are supposed to do, the residents will be able to address that problem with the site manager."

Ferrara addressed Mrs. Stassen, who will be the resident most impacted on the northside of Jericho Turnpike, commenting, "They were going to take nine feet of your property and now they are only talking about two feet going down to zero. I can really sympathize with you, because any property taken from a homeowner is too much, but at least now you won't be as severely impacted as originally planned."

Ferrara continued, "The problem that we have is the sheer number of people that live here and travel on those roadways and we have to do something. It is not, unfortunately, a case where something can be done without anybody being impacted. Something has to be done to save lives and something has to be done to make the impact as small as possible."

Nassau County Legislator Richard Nicolello, of New Hyde Park, wanted to know if the changes being contemplated would substantially improve the intersection.

Stroh said, "The changes will substantially improve the intersection. They won't operate, obviously, as well as wider lanes and more space, but there will be turning lanes and traffic will be better."

Nicolello wanted to also know if the intersection, with its new configurations would be any safer for the students at New Hyde Park Road to cross. It was determined that Jericho Turnpike itself will still remain the same and that it will still be a dangerous intersection for children to cross.

Tackenberg said that he had asked for the statistics of accidents on the road and it was determined that there were 81 accidents in a three year period and north, south, east and west of Jericho there were 15 accidents. Ninety-six all together with little or none of these cases including pedestrians. Rather, they were all car-related accidents.

Another DOT consultant added that when the road work is completed it is estimated that the car accident rate will be cut by 50 percent.

It was also established, by the DOT, there will be flagmen on the job when construction is taking place to direct the traffic and to make sure residents get in and out of their driveways safely.

At the very end of the meeting Schneider commented that the plans would have to meet final approval, which prompted Ferrara to immediately ask that if there were any changes in the now proposed plans, the DOT alert the residents and hold another meeting. It was agreed that if any changes whatsoever take place the residents would be notified through Mayor Tackenberg and he would call another meeting.

The Illustrated, after the meeting, pursued those comments with Schneider and he said that as far as he can see the only stumbling block might be the New York State Historical Association. He explained that they might not allow the property to be taken from the village hall, since it has has designated landmark status. However, he said the amount of property proposed to be removed from the village property is very small and he feels they will not object. If, however, they do, he said they would have to do further reconfiguration to allow for that amount of property in another area. However, he said he was confident that the plans would stand as now proposed and said that the village will be notified of any change and they in turn will notify the village and the residents.