Mangano Announces Austin Boulevard Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Project
Oceanside, NY - June 18, 2014 - Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano today announced that Nassau County has been awarded a $2.5 million New York State Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) grant for traffic flow and pedestrian safety improvements on Austin Boulevard. The total project cost is $5.7 million.
County Executive Mangano stated, “Working with New York State, my administration has secured the funds necessary to improve traffic flow and pedestrian safety along this critical evacuation, economic and transportation route in Island Park, Oceanside, and Long Beach.”
The southern part of Austin Boulevard travels beneath the Long Beach Bridge into the center of the City of Long Beach. Along the route are many local businesses. In addition, the communities of Island Park and Oceanside flank each side of the road, which is heavily used by pedestrians and served as an evacuation route during Superstorm Sandy.
The $2.5 million grant was awarded following the completion of a traffic safety study, which recommended widening parking lanes, widening the center left turn lane, widening the travel lanes, reducing the number of southbound travel lanes from three to two, providing painted and raised center median treatments, providing new crosswalks and pedestrian countdown timers. The study recommended providing sidewalk bulb-outs at pedestrian crossing locations to reduce crossing distance and at select locations to protect parked vehicles, visually narrow the roadway, improve sight distance for drivers by preventing illegal parking at intersections, and increase the clear zone distance and discourage illegal turns, improving the traffic progression with an upgraded traffic signal system, reconfiguring/realigning certain intersections to improve intersection geometry, installing driver feedback devices, and improving the aesthetics of the roadway.