Plaza awards contract for transportation enhancement project

Janelle Clausen
One of the two plans presented by LKB Engineers back in 2016, the village's consultant on the TEP project, shows the addition of Post Office Plaza, sharrow bike lanes, a raised median and other features. (Photo from LKB Consulting Engineers presentation)
One of the two plans presented by LKB Engineers back in 2016, the village's consultant on the TEP project, shows the addition of Post Office Plaza, sharrow bike lanes, a raised median and other features. (Photo from LKB Consulting Engineers presentation)

Great Neck Plaza officials awarded a contract for a transportation enhancement project – or “TEP project” – to J. Anthony Enterprises at a board meeting on Wednesday night, setting the stage for a revamp of Shoreward Drive and Welwyn Road.

Trustees said J. Anthony Enterprises agreed to do the project, which aims to boost pedestrian safety and calm traffic in the area, for $993,674.40.

The plan features a new circular intersection, special bike lanes, a mid-block raised crosswalk, and other features aiming to boost pedestrian safety.

It also features a public plaza near the post office on Welwyn Road, new curbing and brick sidewalks, as well as benches and trees.

Project plans had first been outlined in 2016, following a promise of state transportation department funds to pay for a bulk of the project in 2014. It was originally slated to cost more than $1 million.

Village officials have previously said delays on the project stemmed from back and forths with the state, which is administering a federal grant paying for 80 percent of the project.

“We got the state to give us a green light to move forward,” Mayor Jean Celender said at the meeting.

Great Neck Plaza will be receiving $725,600 in federal funds for the project, Village Clerk-Treasurer Patricia O’Byrne said.

Village officials will now be meeting with J. Anthony Enterprises for a “pre-construction meeting,” she said, after which they will order supplies and notify residents in the surrounding areas about the project’s impact.

Celender said she hopes the project will be done by the “end of construction season” in November.

In unrelated village business, trustees moved to adjourn a hearing on laws aimed at incentivizing affordable housing in two districts, discussed proposed regulations of unattended collection bids, and reiterated support for the Mayors Monarch Pledge to create an environment friendly to endangered monarch butterflies.

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