Jericho Tpke. project finish delayed

Richard Tedesco

The final phase of the Village of New Hyde Park’s $1.46 million Jericho Turnpike upgrade has again fallen behind schedule with the work’s completion now expected at the end of June.

“We’re hopeful that J Anthony [Enterprises] could be completed by month’s end with all of the final details,” Village of New Hyde Park Mayor Robert Lofaro said of the project’s contractor on Monday.

The remaining work includes completion of bulbouts – rounded sidewalk curbs intended to slow traffic along Jericho Turnpike – and the installation of rustic red paving bricks on sidewalks as an aesthetic improvement. 

Lofaro said he also hopes the contractor will have finished the installation of benches, bicycle racks and sidewalk planters and the replacement of plantings that have died in the road’s median by the end of the month.

“That’s our hope but it hasn’t been confirmed by all of the parties involved,” Lofaro said.

The parties include J Anthony and Tully Construction, a contractor for the state Department of Transportation contractor Tully Construction that has been working on a project to replace Jericho Turnpike from the Queens line to Glen Cove Road in Mineola, and village engineering consultant VHB, which is verifying J Anthony Enterprises’ work on the project. 

Progress on the project, dubbed Operation Mainstreet, suffered a series of delays since Bohemia-based J Anthony began work on the final phase last November. The project was interrupted in January due to inclement weather and did not resume until mid March. 

Lofaro complained about the company at a May 6 village board meeting when it became apparent that J Anthony was going to miss a May 15 deadline on its $1.46 million contract.

 “We’ve been so disappointed with J Anthony. They’re never going to work in this village again,” Lofaro said at the meeting. “They’re never going to finish. It’s a been a disaster from the get go.”

Lofaro said his comments, which were reported in the New Hyde Park Herald Courier, drew a reaction from J Anthony Enterprises President Joseph Knesich, who sought a meeting with him. 

Lofaro said he told Knesich there was no reason to meeting to discuss the comments in the news story.

“We just told him to complete the project,” Lofaro said.

Efforts to reach Knesich for comment have been unavailing. 

The work on the final phase of the project, which began in late November, had followed several delays in earlier phases of the project.  The most recent delay resulted from communication problems between the village and the state Department of Transportation in coordinating the village’s project with the state’s.

The New Hyde Park village board approved J Anthony Enterprises contract for the project last summer.  

Last month Lofaro and Deputy Mayor Lawrence Montreuil also criticized Tully Construction for not replacing plants on the Jericho Turnpike medians that had died during the winter.

Lofaro said 75 percent of the shrubs and flowers planted in November had died. 

Terms of Tully’s contract with the state called for the contractor to replace any plants that died within the year after they were planted. But, Lofaro said, he asked the state DOT to amend Tully’s contract to require the contractor to replant the median by June 30. DOT spokeswoman Eileen Peters said the department would comply with the village’s request.

“Whatever needs to be replaced will be replaced before June 30,” Peters said.

The New Hyde Park project is being funded primarily through a federal transportation appropriation of $1.425 million secured by Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D- Mineola) under the community block grant program.

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