Upgrades coming to dangerous roads near Lynbrook High School

Nassau County to implement safety improvements at intersection

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A series of incidents at the intersection of Atlantic Avenue, Union Avenue and Lincoln Place near Lynbrook High School have led to plans by Nassau County to implement safety improvements at a yet to be determined date.

“They better do something,” said Stacy Kaplin, co-president of the Lynbrook schools Parent Teacher Association, whose daughter is a sophomore at Lynbrook High School. “It’s another accident waiting to happen.”

Concerns about safety in the area stem all the way back to an incident on Dec. 3, 2013, where three students were struck by a 2001 Hyundai at the intersection. Lynbrook Mayor Bill Hendrick said he’s been imploring the county to do something to improve pedestrian safety at the intersection and has been writing letters since the accident.

Hendrick teamed up with Lynbrook Superintendent of Schools Melissa Burak to get the county to conduct a traffic study at the location. The Nassau County Department of Public Works sent a return letter this past August, saying that safety improvements such as sidewalk extensions, pavement markings and pedestrian crosswalks will be added. Their original goal was for the changes to come in the fall of 2016, but that is rapidly growing unrealistic.

“This has been years in the making for both the school community and village community,” Burak said. “We realized that it’s an unsafe corner. There have been accidents there and children have been involved in accidents where they’ve been hit by cars.”

According to DPW Spokesperson Mary Studdert, the plans are still in design and there is no timetable for when the work will begin.

Between 2013 and 2015, 3,738 pedestrians and cyclists have been hit by cars in Nassau County. In that same time frame, seven pedestrians have been struck at the Atlantic Avenue, Union Avenue and Lincoln Place intersection. “The intersection is frequented by students and we must have safe crossing for them,” Hendrick said. “I have repeatedly been writing to and working with Nassau County in the hopes that it will implement this plan immediately.”

When the work finally is done, parents like Kaplin will feel a sense of relief. “We’re grateful something’s being done,” she said. “Because it went too long and too many accidents happen and it’s the scariest thing for those kids.”