Oyster Bay Town Supervisor John Venditto recently announced that the town was awarded a New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) grant to develop a "traffic calming" project for a section of Broadway, between Sunrise Highway and Boundary Avenue, in Massapequa and North Massapequa respectively.

"I am very pleased the state deemed the town worthy of this grant," said Venditto. "It will greatly improve the quality of life for our town residents, particularly those living in Massapequa and North Massapequa."

According to Venditto, motorists travelling along Broadway in Massapequa and North Massapequa tend to travel at speeds much greater than the speed limit. "This is simply unacceptable," Venditto said. "Broadway is used by many pedestrians and bicyclists. It also runs near two schools and many students walk to those schools along Broadway."

Town officials agree that the excessive speed poses a serious safety concern. "It is an issue I have been determined to address," Venditto said. "Now the town will be able to take more intensive measures to try to get the situation under control."

According to Venditto, the grant will defray 90 percent of the estimated $999,970 cost of the traffic calming project. The town will be required to provide a 10 percent "match" or $99,997. The plan is currently in the project scoping phase using the expertise of NYSDOT's traffic engineering consultant team. Once scoping is completed, NYSDOT will work with the town to set up a design and/or construction.

"The goal of 'traffic calming' is to force drivers to travel more slowly," Venditto explained. "This can be accomplished using a variety of measures."

Plans for Broadway may include the following: between Brooklyn and Rhode Island Avenues, where Broadway is four lanes, remove one through lane in each direction and make three lanes including a three-way center turning lane, and add bike lanes in each direction.

Another potential traffic calming solution would be between Rhode Island and Toronto Avenues there would be the same three-lane configuration, but no bike lanes. Creating inset parking in front of some commercial establishments, and installing overhead mast arm speed control radar signs that display the speed of all vehicles are other ideas. Re-timing traffic signals to better accommodate the new lane configurations and to emphasize vehicle control speed would also be options.

"The concept of 'traffic calming' is relatively new to Long Island, and the Town of Oyster Bay is among the first municipalities to develop a 'traffic calming' project," Venditto said. "I have every hope it will prove successful on Broadway and be a model for future projects on other roads throughout the town."