Levittown resident Arnold Johnson, who has lived in the community for over 40 years, believes that anyone who uses the intersection of Wantagh Avenue and Miller Place/Cotton Lane in Levittown knows of its danger. For over two years, Johnson, now joined by other members of the community who live in the area, has been petitioning Nassau County to install turning lanes at the intersection.

"There have been many accidents and at least one death attributive to the nature of this intersection," Johnson said.

In the most recent letter Johnson addressed to County Executive Thomas Suozzi on Aug. 18, he requested that left turn lanes be installed on Wantagh Avenue at the intersection of Miller Place/Cotton Lane to help ease the current traffic problems. He stated that vehicles traveling southbound turning left into Miller Place can collide with vehicles entering Miller Place from the south and that they are presently controlled only by a yield sign, which Johnson said is often negated. Stressing that this must be addressed, Johnson suggested utilizing a signal light facing traffic entering Miller Place from the south that is mounted on the signal light pole that already exists on the triangular road divider that separates the "shoot" from the main roadway, that being Wantagh Avenue.

Johnson submitted a petition to the county that was signed by over 600 residents of the community, all of whom stated they drive daily and use this intersection. Johnson noted that the residents who signed the petition expect the redesign and construction to begin without further delay. Johnson's letter to Suozzi said that the 600 residents who use the intersection "use highways intersecting at Wantagh Avenue several times daily to shop, to go to work, to take their children to school and a myriad of other events whereby this intersection has become a major 'crossroad' and the residents have become alarmed at the number of accidents that have occurred here. Some of these residents have been in those accidents and the accidents are due to the nature of this intersection."

Johnson claims that Peter Garbasi, commissioner of Nassau County Department of Public Works (NCDPW), has stalled this intersection change. He said that at his suggestion, the Town of Hempstead implemented double yellow lines near the intersection along Miller Place within two weeks of hearing his complaint. However, when it comes to installing the turning lanes, that falls under the county's jurisdiction.

"The county has done nothing but offer excuses," Johnson said in his petition.

Johnson said that to accomplish the installation of two turning lanes, the concrete curb would have to be removed and new concrete would be poured, filling the gap. He said that with that removed, turn lanes could be installed with the re-marking of the pavement.

In a letter written to Johnson from Garbasi in October of last year, Garbasi said that while the installation of left turn lanes along county roads is under the jurisdiction of Nassau County, the Town of Hempstead is responsible for parking restrictions, speed limits and turning restrictions.

Another representative from the NCDPW said they had at one point sent a letter to the Town of Hempstead that said that one of the things that would have to be done in order to implement the left turn lane at this intersection would be parking restrictions.

"We have not gotten anything back from the Town of Hempstead that indicated that they would restrict parking," the representative stated. "Even though it is a county road, we would need the Town of Hempstead to put up 'No Parking' signs and ordinance them along that section of Wantagh Avenue for approximately 300 feet north and south of that intersection."

However, according to a representative from the Town of Hempstead, the only correspondence they have received regarding this matter was a copy of the response the county sent to Johnson on Oct. 31, 2003.

The letter from Garbasi stated that "we will not be requesting any restrictions since we do not believe that left turn lanes could be easily installed at this location."

It was in this letter that Johnson said he finally received an answer as to why the project couldn't be undertaken.

"Finally, I was told that the road divider (median) on Wantagh Avenue, just south of this intersection (that requires the removal of 375 square feet of dirt), surrounded by a concrete curb was the problem."

The NCDPW representative said that this raised median wasn't necessarily a 'deal-breaker,' but in order to remove it, the new parking restrictions would be necessary to change the striping and then the northbound and southbound through lanes would have to be pushed over closer to the curb lines.

In addition, Garbasi said that after a more detailed review of this location, the county will not be requesting any restrictions since they "do not believe that left turn lanes could easily be installed at this location" as Wantagh Avenue is a concrete roadway with asphalt shoulders.

Garbasi explained in his letter that asphalt shoulders are substandard and cannot handle repeated traffic. Therefore, he said, substantial roadway improvements would be necessary before the county could even consider modifying the markings to provide a left turn lane.

"Given the potential cost of this improvement, we do not believe that this improvement would be cost-effective," Garbasi continued. "Therefore, we cannot accommodate your request for left turn lanes at this location and we do not believe any further improvements are warranted at this location."

Johnson argues that seven other intersections along Wantagh Avenue have had turn lanes and asphalt shoulders since they were made. They include Entry Lane, Gray Lane, Lynn Lane, Stony Lane, Red Maple Drive/Sprucewood Drive, Hunt Road and North Jerusalem Road/Gregg Court.

He did admit that the county made an effort to help traffic in this area when they installed a traffic light in the area, but said that because of the light's location, it is ineffective and most motorists don't know what the light is for.

"They put the light up 20 feet in the roadway - the light does nothing there," he said, adding that many don't realize that the light is intended for Wantagh Avenue, not for Miller Place. "They moved the light to the left side of the road, which is still asinine because it's 20 feet away from the roadway."