NHP board raises concerns as Covert Ave. project is set to finish

Tom McCarthy
New Hyde Park Mayor Lawrence Montreuil said that the 3TC are not "very happy" with New Hyde Park. (Photo by Tom McCarthy)

Long Island Rail Road and 3rd Track Constructors crews will be installing a new LIRR bridge and underpass tunnel at Covert Avenue in New Hyde Park this weekend.

To prepare for and execute the “push” of the new bridge, there will be no train service between New Hyde Park and Hicksville in both directions starting in the late evening on Friday through early Monday morning.

As a consequence of the work, Covert Avenue has been closed since April 15. New Hyde Park is continuing to voice its concerns over road closures and traffic regulation.

“3TC is not very happy with New Hyde Park particularly and I know it’s mutual,” Mayor Lawrence Montreuil said at an Aug. 15 village board meeting.

Crews have been building the new train bridge and tunnel structure adjacent to the tracks in preparation for the installation, when the bridge will be moved into position. The existing Covert Avenue grade crossing will be eliminated and reconstructed to provide a two-lane grade-separated underpass with a pedestrian sidewalk on the east side of the underpass.

Montreuil said in a letter to residents and at the meeting that in addition to closing Covert Avenue until October 3TC had sought to fully close New Hyde Park Road to “possibly shave the construction period in New Hyde Park by up to 5 months of the 25 months they will be with us.” Montreuil said that this idea was rejected by the village.

At the July 18 board meeting, New Hyde Park trustees said they had met with LIRR executives with Trustee Rainer Burger saying, “Right now, everything is on track with Covert Avenue to open it up in October.”

In July, a community scorecard that surveyed the neighborhoods most affected by the LIRR’s expansion project was released. New Hyde Park was in fourth place with a general approval rating of 76.53 percent.

Montreuil also spoke to residents about a letter he wrote to the Third Track Project Executive Mark Roche and how it affected the quarterly incentive awards the developers receive based on the scorecard.

Montreuil said about the scorecard: “The raw score from New Hyde Park was actually quite favorable. My letter was not. It cost them a good deal of money.”

The third track developers were awarded $188,500 out of a possible $250,000 incentive reward for the community scorecard results.

In his July letter to residents Montreuil wrote, “Since the closing of the Covert Avenue on April 15, we have experienced some of the adverse effects we dreaded when the Governor first announced his plans to install a third track on the LIRR mainline and eliminate the three grade crossings in New Hyde Park.”

In his letter to Roche, Montreuil asked for assistance in securing a larger police presence, writing, “The deployment of police, both MTA police and Nassau County police are urgently needed to enforce traffic laws, particularly the extremely high incidences of motorists running through stop signs as they attempt to expedite their trip through the detour area; our neighborhood.”

With the closure of Covert Avenue at Stewart Avenue, Montreuil said that there has been “a steady stream” of traffic on 5th and 6th avenues and that South 12th Street continues to take on a “greater burden of traffic flow” due to the closure.

Burger said that the board has been pushing for underground utility poles for the project, without success.

The LIRR Expansion Project will add a third track on the Main Line from Floral Park to Hicksville and is being carried out by 3rd Track Constructors. The project began in January 2018 and is to be completed by late 2022. Its development areas include Carle Place, Floral Park, Garden City, Garden City Park, Hicksville, Mineola, New Cassel, New Hyde Park and Westbury.

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