Shoring up Shore Road

The Island Now
Swans didn’t know where Manhasset Bay began or ended when the bay crested during a storm surge at high tide in October 2018. (Photo courtesy of the Village of Baxter Estates)

Shore Road is one of Port Washington’s main thoroughfares with an average of 8,000 cars driving on it daily. Over the decades, the beach has eroded and severe and damaging storms have become more frequent. While Manhasset Bay has occasionally crested and overflowed onto Shore Road during storms at high tide for decades, in the fall of 2018, police needed to close the road for several hours from north of Central Drive and south of Mill Pond Road. Beyond being an inconvenience, the flooding closed off one of only two emergency evacuation routes for the Port Washington peninsula.

For the past couple of years, Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove) has been discussing this problem with Village of Baxter Estates Mayor Nora Haagenson and other representatives of both jurisdictions. Since Shore Road is a County road, Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton has been pushing to secure funding for over a year for a feasibility study. The funding was recently approved by the county Legislature to conduct this study that will address coastal erosion along a portion of Shore Road that abuts Manhasset Bay. The study will also address the possibility of extending the Bay Walk Park path with a continued multi-use walk. The extension would reach closer to Main Street and the walk that runs along the breakwater retaining wall to Sunset Park and the Town Dock.

The erosion issues not only result in flooding but also affect the integrity of the road itself as the erosion of Baxter Beach is encroaching closer to the soil foundation under the sidewalks and roadway. “Mayor Haagenson and I have been speaking about this critical issue for way too long,” DeRiggi-Whitton said. “I am so relieved that the funds for the study have finally been released. I’m looking forward to getting going on the reparations that will also dramatically improve usage of Baxter Beach.”

Contact DeRiggi-Whitton’s office with questions related to this project or any other issues at 516-571-6211 or dderiggiwhitton@nassaucountyny.gov.

Submitted by Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton’s Office. 

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