Live Press Conference Scheduled In Response to Nassau Expressway Traffic

As you are probably aware, Rockaway Boulevard already carries many multiples of the volume of traffic for which it was designed many years ago. Several times a day most days, traffic is backed up in both directions, causing severe delays for motorists. We have seen southbound traffic backed up all the way to the Southern State Parkway, a distance of about seven miles.

Northbound, we have seen a good part of the Five Towns area snarled in traffic for hours. Ambulances, police and other first responders face a hopeless task when they need to traverse the area. Hopelessly snarled traffic emits tons of pollutants, waiting to move. Since this is the only Emergency Evacuation Route in the area, evacuation, should it be needed, is virtually impossible.

Several years ago, New York State rebuilt a half-mile-long section of the existing roadway, between Burnside Avenue in Lawrence and Rockaway Boulevard, at the astonishing cost of more than $100 million. While this did alleviate flooding that happened a few times a year, it did nothing to fix the real problem.

Nassau County Legislators Howard Kopel and Denise Ford have been fighting for years to have the state complete the Nassau Expressway as originally designed. They have written multiple letters to our state and federal representatives urging them to fight for additional funding for the completion of Rockaway Boulevard, especially as talks of a large scale federal infrastructure advance in Washington DC. No real response has been seen.

This Thursday July 15th, Legislators Kopel and Ford will hold a press conference at 11am in the parking lot of the Five Towns Shopping Center, calling for state and federal funding to complete Rockaway Boulevard be included in any federal infrastructure package. This is a necessary and even critical project for health safety and environmental reasons.

We hope to see you there,