Governor Kathy Hochul today announced a series of new safety enhancements along several Long Island highways to deter wrong-way driving and help prevent trucks and other over-height vehicles from striking parkway overpasses. Thousands of new, highly reflective signs and pavement markings have been installed at more than 700 select locations to improve driver awareness and enhance safety on some of the busiest highways in Nassau and Suffolk counties. The new measures meet or exceed all state and federal highway standards for safety.
“Wrong-way drivers and over-height vehicles pose obvious safety hazards that can cause unspeakable tragedies and lead to unnecessary delays and hardships for motorists,” Governor Hochul said. “With these new signs and pavement markings, we are providing hard-to-ignore warnings that will help deter wrong-way drivers and over-height trucks to protect the safety of their fellow motorists.”
The new safety enhancements include more than 3,600 new “Wrong Way” and “Do Not Enter” signs that have been installed at 422 parkway, expressway, and highway ramps to discourage wrong-way drivers from entering high speed highways, expressways, and parkways on Long Island. Facing against normal traffic flow will be one “Do Not Enter” sign followed by four “Wrong Way” signs. The signposts all have red reflective strips to increase their visibility. Additional pavement markings and reflectors in the pavement have also been installed on the ramps to alert wayward drivers.
To thwart bridge hits, new highly reflective advance warning signs and signs have been installed at 282 locations on the Southern, Northern, Meadowbrook, Wantagh, Bethpage, Heckscher, Sagtikos, and Sunken Meadow State Parkways and the Robert Moses Causeway. They display each bridge’s height and feature reflectors on the signposts. The new signs are approximately 75 percent larger than previous signs and provide ample warning to help truckers avoid colliding with the overpass.
Additionally, pavement markings warning of “Low Bridge Clearance” are also being installed at 17 targeted parkway locations to further increase awareness
Long Island’s state parkways were constructed in the mid-20th century with low stone arch bridges and were intended to only accommodate passenger vehicles. But over the past eight decades, their purpose has evolved from scenic roads for the enjoyment of state park visitors to major commuting routes connecting suburban communities to New York City.
All too often, trucks and other over-height vehicles - unaware of the state parkway height restrictions – have entered the parkways and struck the overpasses, causing traffic backups and damage to highway infrastructure.
The new signs and pavement markings complement 16 over height vehicle detectors in place selected at ramps where trucks have been known to frequently enter parkways. This technology triggers a warning sign to notify the truck’s driver and alerts the State Department of Transportation's regional traffic management center.
New York State Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez said, “Safety is always the top priority of the Department of Transportation and these new signs and pavement markings will help us combat the dangerous instances of wrong-way driving and bridge strikes on Long Island roadways. However, safety is everyone’s responsibility. While we remain committed to doing all we can to enhance the safety of our roadways, we need motorists to obey the rules of the road, drive responsibly and remain alert at all times.”
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said, “Suffolk County is committed to ensuring our roadways are as safe as possible and we have implemented various initiatives and strategies that help keep drivers safe. I applaud Governor Hochul and New York State for taking additional proactive measures to reduce and prevent serious injuries and fatal crashes on Long Island.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said, "The important safety enhancements announced by Governor Hochul today will help make our highways safer for the hundreds of thousands of Nassau County Motorists who use them every day."
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Motorists are urged to plan accordingly and drive responsibly in work zones. Fines are doubled for speeding in a work zone. Convictions of two or more speeding violations in a work zone could result in the suspension of an individual’s driver license.
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