Legislators call for completion of Nassau Expressway

Nassau County legislators are trying to revive a nearly $1 billion project to complete the Nassau Expressway to redirect traffic from local streets to the Southern State and Belt parkways and the Van Wyck Expressway.

Legis. Howard Kopel (R-Lawrence) and Legis. Denise Ford (R-Long Beach) are seeking state and federal infrastructure funding that would clear traffic in the Five Towns and the Rockaways by reviving a 75-year-old plan to complete the highway between Nassau County and Queens.

"It hasn’t been built because our state and federal representatives will not step up," Kopel said. "This is not just a bother or nuisance. It is a health hazard, a safety hazard and an environmental disaster to have thousands of trucks idling that can't go anywhere."

Kopel and Ford wrote a letter in April to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Queens) asking for infrastructure funding to complete the expressway.

"I am hard at work to secure a robust infrastructure package that will bolster vital projects like improvements to the Nassau Expressway/Route 878, which is a critical artery for residents of the Five Towns, Long Beach, Queens, and beyond," Schumer said in a statement Thursday.

Kopel said the state has owned the land with the rights to build a highway since 1950. He said traffic is typically stalled for hours daily and an overturned tanker last week backed up traffic to the Van Wyck. He said he is concerned about an increased number of trucks when an Amazon distribution center on Rockaway Boulevard in Woodmere is completed.

"This project is long overdue and critically-needed to alleviate congestion. I join the call for New York State to complete it," Rice said in a statement. "In Congress, I am fighting to secure as much federal funding as possible for Long Island’s infrastructure needs. That is my top priority as Congress continues to debate the final infrastructure legislation."

The state just completed a $100 million improvement project on Nassau Expressway/Route 878 to fix bottlenecks caused by flooding at three intersections in Lawrence.

Extending the expressway would require state and federal infrastructure funding — last estimated in 2012 at $500 million — to build on state-owned marsh land behind shopping centers and homes between Rockaway and Brookville boulevards.

The expressway is split between county, state and New York City roads extending from Atlantic Beach to Kennedy Airport. The highway slows down to traffic stopped at unsynchronized traffic lights surrounded by development in the Five Towns, where local officials fear the traffic gridlock can stall emergency vehicles from getting through the community. Officials said it is the only designated evacuation route through the Rockaways and the Five Towns.

Kopel and Ford said Long Island should get a $1 billion share of the federal trillion dollar infrastructure package needed to complete the expressway.

"This is a dangerous situation and it needs to be fixed. We know these projects will work," Ford said. "President Biden has offered an infrastructure deal. It is time this forgotten community is not forgotten anymore. This was a road promised to us many years ago."

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.