Bids sought to continue West Shore Road repair in Mill Neck

Nassau County is seeking bids for the reconstruction of the southern portion of West Shore Road, a key North Shore artery serving Bayville and Centre Island that was severely damaged by superstorm Sandy.

The bid solicitation was posted on the county website Friday and bids may be submitted until March 18.

The roadway along Oyster Bay Harbor in Mill Neck was badly damaged and closed when Sandy hit in late October 2012 and was not reopened until June after emergency reconstruction. Motorists had to make a 5-mile detour through Mill Neck and Lattingtown to reach Bayville and Centre Island.

The closing of the 2-mile stretch hurt restaurants and other businesses in Bayville and a spokesman for the county Department of Public Works said Monday that it would work with the winning bidder to limit full closure of the road and use one-lane closures during part of the construction period, which is expected to run from October until the spring of 2015.

"The proposed plan avoids any major impact on traffic along West Shore Road," DPW spokesman Michael Martino said. "The county has been working closely with local officials from the area to determine the best course of action."

Bayville Mayor Douglas Watson said Monday that he and the mayors of adjacent villages had worked with the county to push the project back to late fall to minimize the impact on businesses in Bayville. Centre Island is much smaller than Bayville, and largely residential.

"I am appreciative of the efforts made by the county to work with us," Watson said. "We wanted to hurt the least amount of people for the least amount of time. They suffered enough during the last closure."

Centre Island Mayor Lawrence Schmidlapp said he appreciated the county's decision to start the project in October. "If you do it, better in winter than summertime," he said.

With Bill Bleyer