State and Village of New Hyde Park road projects on Jericho Turnpike have been delayed more than four weeks by miscommunication between the two sides, state and village officials said this week.
“There must have been a communication breakdown,” state Department of Transportation spokesperson Eileen Peters said Tuesday.
Peters said the DOT halted resurfacing work along Jericho Turnpike project last August at the village’s request so work could proceed on the final phase of the village’s Operation Mainstreet road improvement project.
“From our viewpoint we have been working very cooperatively with the village,” Peters said. “We’ve been working our schedules around them.”
Village of New Hyde Park Trustee Donald Barbieri acknowledged this week that the village asked the state to delay work on Jericho Turnpike to allow village contractor J Anthony Enterprises to begin work on the final phase of the village’s $1.46 million project to upgrade the business district.
But, Barbeiri said, the contractor was unable to mobilize crews to begin work at the time.
“We did at one point ask them to hold off because we thought we could get some work done. The timing on that didn’t work out,” said Barbieri, the village board’s DOT liaison. “There was some confusion and things were delayed.”
Peters said the state’s contractor, Tully Construction, would resume work this week. Included would be repaving work on Jericho Turnpike side streets and the installation of countdown traffic lights at the intersections of Jericho Turnpike and New Hyde Park Road, Lakeville Road and Hillside Boulevard.
New Hyde Park officials have consistently complained about delays to Operation Mainstreet work that they attributed to the DOT.
At last week’s board meeting, village officials said they have been waiting for Tully Construction to finish its work on Jericho Turnpike side streets so the village’s contractor could move ahead with its work.
Village Superintendent of Public Works Tom Gannon said village contractor J Anthony Enterprises has been waiting weeks for Tully to pave the side streets as part of the state project so it can commission a surveyor for its work.
“Tully has told us, through the DOT, that they would be here four weeks ago,” Barbieri said on Wednesday.
Peters said she had no knowledge of when Tully was to return, but expected the remaining DOT work would be completed by the end of the paving season on Nov. 15.
The state’s work in New Hyde Park is the second phase of a project to repave Jericho Turnpike from the state line through Mineola, going from the Queens line to Herricks Road.
Operation Mainstreet is focused on the New Hyde Park’s business district. The work includes construction of bulb-outs – rounded corners that would extend slightly into the roadway – to be added at several intersections and the installation of red brickwork on sidewalks and benches to make the business district more pedestrian-friendly.
