It listed Hempstead Turnpike as the most dangerous road in Nassau County, with 15 pedestrian deaths from 2005 through 2007. Also in Nassau, during that same period, Route 27 and Merrick Road had seven pedestrian deaths each and Route 25 had five.
The transportation campaign also said, in a Dec. 10 report, that between 2005 and 2007, pedestrians 65 and older were four times more likely to be killed while walking on downstate roads than were younger pedestrians, even though they account for less than 12 percent of the area’s population. In per capita terms, Nassau’s streets ranked just behind Manhattan’s as the most dangerous on which to walk in 10 downstate counties.
The day that report was released, Gov. David A. Paterson announced a new federally financed program to make it easier and safer for pedestrians — particularly the elderly — to walk on state roads. He said Hempstead Turnpike in Nassau and Routes 25/25A in Suffolk would be used as pilot projects to kick off what is being called the SafeSeniors effort.
Astrid C. Glynn, the state transportation commissioner, said the road improvements would be low cost, like adding higher-visibility pavement markings and lengthening traffic lights at intersections. She said the state would work with communities and “be guided by local knowledge” in deciding which projects to pursue.
Asked about sidewalks, Ms. Glynn said, “We need to make sure that our roadways are not only safe for vehicles but for those choosing to walk and bicycle.” Repair work and extension of sidewalks is important, she said, and “hopefully with the federal stimulus package we can do more.”
Kate Slevin, the transportation campaign’s executive director, called the state’s SafeSeniors program a “good step that shows they are responsive and are seeking solutions to serious traffic safety problems.”
Ms. Slevin and other advocates said the state’s attitude was strikingly different today from what it was in the past. “It has been combative and confrontational at times,” she said.
In November 2002, activists painted a crosswalk and crosshatches along the shoulder of part of Middle Country Road in northern Brookhaven as aids to pedestrians after the State Department of Transportation said it would not restripe part of the road while resurfacing it.
“They were very resistant to requests for pedestrian amenities and steps to slow down traffic,” said Constance Kepert, an organizer of the protest and now a member of the Brookhaven Town Council.
She said that there are only small strips of sidewalk and shoulder along sections of Route 25 and that the state should connect the segments to make a continuous sidewalk.
“If a car is going over 20 miles an hour and hits you,” she said, “you are likely to be killed.”
The speed limit along much of Route 25 is 40 miles per hour.
Deborah Felber, president of the Selden Civic Association, said her group had previously discussed Route 25 safety with the Department of Transportation.
Mrs. Felber said “traffic calming” measures should be instituted in Selden to slow traffic and decrease accidents along the route, which she said had become known as the Selden Speedway.
Among the steps proposed by her group are installing a center median to prevent cars from using the center left-turn lane as a passing lane and allow turning cars to get out of the flow of traffic; installing more sidewalks; forcing cars down side streets instead of using curb cuts to enter shopping areas along Route 25; and planting trees and shrubbery along the road to “give it the feel of a country road and not a highway.”
Money could be a problem. The state recently canceled more than $100 million in Long Island road improvement projects because of the budget crisis.
But Eric Alexander, executive director of Vision Long Island, a nonprofit planning group, said that move affords the state “an opportunity to take a second look” at the projects.
“Now that we have a timeout,” he said, “it allows for some of the best thinking and gives time for civic and municipal leaders to weigh in.”
What about open space?
By Grant Parpan 12/12/08
Last election season, the words "open space" could be heard loud and clear at nearly every campaign event in Brookhaven. The Community Preservation Fund was on the ballot and Democratic and Republican candidates alike were in support of the referendum.
Then voters went to the polls and overwhelmingly opposed the measure, which would have established a 2 percent tax on real estate transfers in the town for the purpose of generating funds to preserve open space and farmland. Sixty-one percent of voters -- 40,251 to 25,719 -- rejected the proposal, and while no one denies the need for preservation, the town was left to find new revenue sources for maintaining open spaces.
But at least one environmentalist thinks the town isn't doing enough. Richard Amper, executive director of the Pine Barrens Society, recently questioned the town for not yet having implemented two of three recommendations of the town's blue ribbon open space panel.
"The town is not doing enough," said Mr. Amper in a recent telephone interview. "They've started to move in the right direction, but there's more work to be done."
The panel, which was organized by the Town Board after the CPF was rejected last year and past open space preservation revenue sources dried up, made three recommendations to the board in an effort to secure new monies for preservation. So far, the board has acted on only one of them -- a $10 million annual allocation for open space preservation that will begin in 2009 and continue for four more years.
The other two initiatives -- a $20 million bridge fund to complete land deals already agreed upon that the town did not have the revenue to complete and a $1 per $100 of assessed valuation open space fund -- have not yet been acted on.
Members of the Town Board said last week that open space preservation has simply been one of many victims of a sour economy.
"All of us desire to preserve open space," said 4th District Councilwoman Connie Kepert. "And we want to do more.
"But right now, we have to watch our pocketbooks."
And while Ms. Kepert said she's proud of the Town Board's efforts to put $10 million aside for preservation this year, she thinks the board will be hard-pressed to find the money to do much more this year in light of "difficult economic times."
But Mr. Amper said he feels this is exactly the time for preservation, as land value has dropped significantly and once unattainable parcels could perhaps be bought on the cheap if the town had more revenue sources.
