Local Route 24 Roadwork Near Finished

A little pain for, hopefully, a lot of gain.

That's what Levittown and East Meadow residents are hoping results from the road work that's been completed on Hempstead Turnpike since late August. Contractors working for the state Department of Transportation have worked on a strip of the turnpike from Wantagh Avenue in Levittown to the eastern portion of East Meadow (at Nassau County Medical Center).

Erik Koester, spokesman for the DOT regional director's office, said that workers have milled the shoulders of the road to maintain the "curb-reveal" area and resurfaced the roadway. That work guarantees that there would be enough of a runoff during a rainstorm so that the water will go into the drains.

Koester said that the DOT built heavy rudded areas at some of the traffic signals, and raised some manholes and utility boxes to maintain the grade.

The Levittown/East Meadow site was one of nine areas targeted throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties . The others included Seaford, Hempstead, Uniondale and Massapequa. The entire project, which Koester said cost $8 million, was contracted to be finished by Nov. 30.

"If the end result proves to be beneficial to the community, which I believe it is, I guess we have to take the bad with the good, since the bad is only temporary," said Legislator-elect Norma Gonsalves, head of the Council of East Meadow Civic Organizations (CEMCO).

Gonsalves noted that CEMCO has worked with the transportation department and the offices of Senator Kemp Hannon and Assemblywoman Donna Ferrara in moving the Hempstead Turnpike improvement forward. She said it was originally earmarked for 1999, but because of the Goodwill Games coming to Long Island CEMCO pushed for the project to be moved up.

"What is even more gratifying," she added, "is the fact we're not only getting a resurfacing of the turnpike, but the medians are going to be enhanced."

Gonsalves said that local businesses are allowing trees to be planted in front of their businesses on Hempstead Turnpike, from the Meadowbrook to Wantagh Parkway.

-- Dave Mock