A plan for traffic improvements for Salisbury Park Drive, aimed at addressing safety concerns, is expected by spring, the local civic leader closest to the issue reported this week.

Beverlee Szimanski, president of the Community Association of Stewart Avenue (C.A.S.A.) in Salisbury, who has been working with the Nassau County Department of Public Works (DPW) on the issue for several years, said the ongoing, county traffic study for the road is almost complete. A final plan for traffic improvements is expected to be issued in the spring, she noted.

The comprehensive study follows years of activism by the civic association in an effort to make the road safer. This past fall, Szimanski met with representatives from the Nassau County and Town of Hempstead traffic divisions, as well as the Nassau County Police Department (NCPD), to provide recommendations for improving traffic conditions on the road, which has been the site of numerous automobile accidents. At that meeting, ways of increasing driver awareness on Salisbury Park Drive, and at the intersections of Salisbury Park Drive and Carman Avenue, and Carman Avenue and Stewart Avenue, were explored. The civic leader has also been assured that larger, more visible traffic lights will replace the ones currently installed at Carman Avenue and Salisbury Park Drive.

In addition, two more of the 3rd Precinct police officers assigned to Salisbury were recently given radar enforcement training. This brings the total number of radar enforcement officers to four. Radar enforcement officers are authorized to issue summonses to drivers exceeding the speed limit as recorded by radar devices. Szimanski was pleased with this move, noting that the increase in radar enforcement may help decrease speeding on the road, which has proved to be a difficult task on the road. "Salisbury Park Drive is not that easy to enforce," said Szimanski, expressing hope that the additional police radar presence will serve as a deterrent to speeders.

DPW traffic engineers who are conducting the comprehensive traffic study are looking at signal operations, pavement markings and accident data that has been received from the NCPD. The survey evolved from isolated studies of specific parts of the road done over the years in response to traffic and safety concerns from local residents and the Community Association of Stewart Avenue, according to Ray Ribiero, assistant director of traffic engineering for DPW. The study was begun this past fall, after a fatal accident on Salisbury Park Drive in October renewed safety concerns among local residents.

This is not the first time that local civic leaders have served as a catalyst for government action on Salisbury Park Drive. For example, in the mid-1990s, the Community Association of Stewart Avenue successfully pushed for a Town of Hempstead ordinance reducing the speed limit from 40 miles-per-hour to 30 miles-per-hour. For more than 10 years, the civic association has been monitoring traffic conditions on the road, and has worked toward increased police enforcement of the speed limits. In addition, the group has encouraged the Town of Hempstead to install traffic signs in various areas of the road as needed - for example, 30-mile-per-hour speed limit signs throughout the entire stretch.