Traffic light set for East Norwich fatal crash site

A traffic light is to be installed on Route 106 in front of an East Norwich apartment complex where a woman last month was fatally struck by a car, state officials said.

The Norwich Gate complex requested a permit for the signal and will be responsible for its design and installation as well as an annual maintenance fee, State Department of Transportation officials said last week.

Margaret Bolanos, 82, and a resident of Norwich Gate, was struck and killed Jan. 8 as she crossed Route 106, or Pine Hollow Road, near Pine Hill Terrace, her family said.

She was walking from a Stop & Shop supermarket to Norwich Gate, a routine many seniors in the complex have adopted, her family said.

No criminality was involved, and the driver was not ticketed, Nassau County police said.

Nassau Legis. Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury), who has long advocated for a stoplight at the intersection, said she was "heartbroken that it took someone getting killed to finally move us to where we should have been a couple years ago."

Islandia-based Heatherwood Communities, which counts Norwich Gate among its properties, and the state were discussing the donation of the land easement last August for a signal, but the process was stalled, Jacobs said.

"You didn't have to be a traffic expert to know when you were looking at the crossing that it was a disaster waiting to happen," she said.

The state issued the permit on Jan. 28. Officials said the state cannot by law install a signal at private driveways but can determine whether there is a need. The state has just 15 signals operating under permit in Nassau, officials added.

Norwich Gate submitted studies and plans for the permit and provided a property easement so transportation workers can access the signal for repairs, state officials said.

The state referred questions about the cost and date of the installation to Norwich Gate's management company. Heatherwood declined to comment.