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Dangerous county roads

This summer Suffolk County Department of Public Works commissioner
Charles Bartha and a host of other local officials went hat-in-hand before the
ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep.
James Oberstar (D-Minn.), to seek funding to institute transportation solutions on
Long Island. And Bartha said then it would take about $1 billion to fix deficiencies
on Nicolls Road, North Ocean Avenue, Pinelawn Road, Fifth Avenue, Portion
Road, Bay Shore Road, North Road, Old Country Road and Montauk Highway.
The study alone to find solutions for William Floyd Parkway would cost about
$700,000, Suffolk Department of Public Works Chief Engineer Bill Shannon said
yesterday.

"I wish I could wave a magic wand and make these problems go away," he said.
"But, I can't."

Local roads - the tree-lined streets through your suburban neighborhood - do not
carry the traffic volumes most county roads carry. Major state roads - highways
such as the Long Island Expressway, the Southern State Parkway, the Northern
State Parkway - are safer because of their nature: limited access, unidirectional,
limited conflict points. But county roads are caught in between. A lot of them -
Fifth Avenue, Ocean Avenue, Commack Road, Route 111, William Floyd Parkway
- carry a lot of traffic and are bordered by residential neighborhoods, malls and
schools.

Once Again, Deadly Crash Happens on a County Road
John Valenti

2003 September 10

Another mother, another daughter killed. Another son left fighting for his life.
Another aftermath of another tragic car accident. Another testament to life - and
death - on our roads on Long Island.

This time it happened on William Floyd Parkway in Shirley. This time it involved a
Saturday night, a red light and an intersection local residents said is a known
danger. This time.

Fact is, it could have happened almost anywhere - on almost any road with an
intersection on Long Island - since you can ask someone to stop at a red light but
you can't make them. And Suffolk police said one driver, Evelyn Asendorf, 59, of
Mastic, ran a red light on William Floyd and struck a car driven by Roseann
Brooks, 45, of Shirley, as she crossed with the green on Robinwood Road. The
collision killed Brooks and her daughter Jennifer, 17. It left her son, Bruce Jr.,
15, in critical condition at Stony Brook University Hospital. All of which might be
fate.

Except it is little surprise that such an accident occurred on a county road,
instead of a state road or a local one. A recent Newsday investigation of the most
dangerous roads on Long Island found that the 10 deadliest roads in Suffolk
County between 1999-2001 - the roads with highest fatality rates per 100 million
miles driven - were all county roads. William Floyd Parkway is 15th on that list
with 12 fatalities in that time, though statistics for the southern 5.22 miles
between Montauk Highway and the entrance to Smith Point County Park, where
seven died in that time, would move it into the top 5.

A dubious honor, to say the least.

So what makes these roads so dangerous - and deadly? And who is to blame?

First glance would suggest the county. But, fact is, it might be all of us. Because
the evolution of Long Island has turned roads designed as local thoroughfares
into major arterials, where traffic volume and traffic speed often exceeds design.
And engineers can never design out driver error. Like running a red light. Though
with more money - and with more foresight from communities into land use -
those engineers could design out a lot of hazards.

"We would like to be able to design the safest road possible," said Richard
LaValle, chief deputy commissioner for public works in Suffolk County. "But what
does possible mean? You have economics. It is extremely expensive to do that.
Impacts to the community can be extensive. You have aesthetics. Communities
want an area to look good.

"People want Main Street," he said. "But the fact is we're limited by our options."

Just this summer Suffolk County Department of Public Works commissioner
Charles Bartha and a host of other local officials went hat-in-hand before the
ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep.
James Oberstar (D-Minn.), to seek funding to institute transportation solutions on
Long Island. And Bartha said then it would take about $1 billion to fix deficiencies
on Nicolls Road, North Ocean Avenue, Pinelawn Road, Fifth Avenue, Portion
Road, Bay Shore Road, North Road, Old Country Road and Montauk Highway.
The study alone to find solutions for William Floyd Parkway would cost about
$700,000, Suffolk Department of Public Works Chief Engineer Bill Shannon said
yesterday.

"I wish I could wave a magic wand and make these problems go away," he said.
"But, I can't."

Local roads - the tree-lined streets through your suburban neighborhood - do not
carry the traffic volumes most county roads carry. Major state roads - highways
such as the Long Island Expressway, the Southern State Parkway, the Northern
State Parkway - are safer because of their nature: limited access, unidirectional,
limited conflict points. But county roads are caught in between. A lot of them -
Fifth Avenue, Ocean Avenue, Commack Road, Route 111, William Floyd Parkway
- carry a lot of traffic and are bordered by residential neighborhoods, malls and
schools.

Many of them, Shannon said, are "obsolete." But, because of the limitations,
LaValle said, "We're reduced to dealing with the problems on an
intersection-by-intersection basis." The entire design and new construction
budget for Suffolk this year is less than $20 million. It sounds like a lot. It isn't.

The speed limit is 55 mph on William Floyd Parkway, where the latest fatal
accident occurred. A Home Depot is being built not far from the crash site. It is
the lone major arterial into the area. There are cross streets and intersections.
There is cross traffic.

Years ago, after a study of William Floyd Parkway, the county built sidewalks for
pedestrian traffic, installed pedestrian signals, closed median openings and
reduced access to side streets. The Town of Brookhaven installed lighting. All for
safety.

But no one wants the county to build another Sunrise Highway into Shirley-Mastic
Beach. Despite the fact that what the state did in making Sunrise Highway a
limited-access highway in Suffolk County made the road safer than it once was.

So, what we're left with is pot luck: Dangerous roads. Dangerous conditions.
Dangerous accidents.

And another mother and daughter dead. Another son, left in a coma. And the
rest of us wondering what we can do to see it doesn't happen again.

Copyright © 2003, Newsday, Inc.

www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/columnists/ny-liroad103448194sep10,0,2995149.column?coll=ny-li-columnists

Posted by dc at September 11, 2003 11:35 PM