Guardrail expected by May for Wantagh parkway bike path

A guardrail between the Wantagh State Parkway and adjacent bike path will be in place by early May, a spokeswoman for Gov. David A. Paterson said Tuesday.

Design of the guardrail will start immediately, spokeswoman Marissa Shorenstein said, and the project will be put out to bid in February. She added that fiber optic, gas and telephone utilities along the parkway may need to be relocated.

Installation of the barrier along most of the 4.5-mile bike path is estimated to cost about $800,000, Paterson said in an interview last week.

Public calls for the guardrail came after Matthew Scarpati, 19, of Dix Hills was killed in July when a motorcyclist, who police said was intoxicated, lost control of his motorcycle and veered over the grass divide. Scarpati had stopped on the path to fix a tire on his bike.

In August, the state closed the right lane of the northbound parkway to create a buffer between motorists and bicyclists. A rumble strip was installed on the pavement to warn motorists who drift to the right.

Since Scarpati's death, his family, local activists and more than 3,000 people signed petitions asking the state to install a guardrail.

After studies showed a higher-than-average rate of off-road accidents on the parkway, Paterson and Department of Transportation officials met with the Scarpati family and local elected officials last week and determined that a relatively new "high tension cable guide rail" would be safest for both bicyclists and motorists.

"We have made great strides in a relatively short time," Scarpati's mother, Lynn, said Tuesday. "It is [just] so painful to realize that a death must occur to get some things done."