What's the plan to make a West Hempstead road safe?

A traffic light will be installed on Woodfield Road, thanks to a joint effort by the public, the West Hempstead Community Support Association, and elected officials.

The new light will help curb the frequent reckless driving that has led to multiple fatalities, including the death of 12-year-old Tomas Molina last October. The road underwent a review following the community’s insistence that something must be done, with a public meeting held on April 27 to discuss the review’s findings.

The announcement of the new traffic light was met with enthusiastic applause.

“The passionate interest of the community was instrumental to getting this issue heard,” said Maureen Greenberg, president of the West Hempstead Community Support Association. “And tonight I’m happy to report that we have results.”

The plan for the traffic light has been completed and will be given to a contractor “sometime in early May,” according to Nassau County Public Works Commissioner Ken Arnold. The light will be up in July or early August before students return to school.

Greenberg and Arnold were joined by Nassau County 8^th District Legislator John Giuffré, Assemblyman Ed Ra, and Nassau County Police Department Inspector Gregory Stephanoff, among others, to discuss the process and results of the road review. Giuffré explained that officials took this issue seriously, and the traffic study was expedited following Molina’s death. Though that initial study determined that the Woodfield intersections did not meet the qualifications for a traffic light, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman overturned the order due to community need. 

“West Hempstead is a walking community,” Giuffré said, noting that the street is frequently used by students as well as Orthodox people walking to and from the synagogue. “People need to be able to cross the street.”

Giuffré shared that he has seen firsthand the kind of dangerous driving on Woodfield that leads to frequent accidents. While visiting the road the night after Molina’s death, he and Blakeman were nearly struck by a car that also narrowly avoided a cyclist.

Other community members shared their own experiences on Woodfield Road.

“If you’ve ever watched a baby carriage and a mother try to cross Woodfield Road at 5 o’clock at Maple Street — it’s Russian roulette,” said Larry Doyle, who has been a West Hempstead resident for 63 years and has spent 20 of them trying to work with the county to improve the road’s safety.

“Woodfield shouldn’t be the highway of Nassau County, but that’s what it is right now,” said community member Shlomo Perl. He said the most frequent speeders are not West Hempstead residents, but people from elsewhere driving to Garden City.

The speeding on Woodfield affects everyone — students and seniors, pedestrians and drivers.

“I always see cars speed by when I’m walking with friends,” said Abigail Liebr, 22, who volunteers with the West Hempstead Community Support Association. “We all have to discuss when we’re going to cross as a group to make sure that we can cross safely.”

“It’s been a problem for at least 20 years,” said Eileen Lambert, who lives a block away from Woodfield Road and often uses the road to get to community programs. “But it’s escalated. There’s more traffic now. People will pass me going 50 miles per hour, easy.”

The traffic light isn’t the first measure that’s been taken on Woodfield Road to keep the dangerous driving in check. For the past several months, a radar speed sign has been alerting drivers by flashing red when they’re going too fast. Police presence on the road has also increased to discourage speeding, with the NCPD giving out nearly triple the number of speeding tickets than in past years.

Arnold explained that the road has also been subject to multiple “traffic calming” techniques, such as a tree canopy and a curved curb. However, some attendees noted that these techniques have not been as successful as was hoped. Cars can still reach over 100 mph in the stretch between traffic lights on Woodfield, such as in the accident that caused the deaths of Kurtis Caeser and Amanda Arguinzoni in October 2021. Though the road study revealed that the average speed on Woodfield is 32 and the 85th percentile of speed is only 38, Arnold noted that averages don’t always account for the actions of individuals.

“All it takes is one person going 60 to cause chaos,” he said.

So after 20 years of the Woodfield Road speeding problem, community members expressed relief and gratitude to hear that an additional traffic light would finally be put up.

“Thank you for actually getting this done,” said Roshan Khan, a Woodfield Road resident. “I’ve lived here for 10 years and am happy to see this happen.”

“Last time we were here, we were worried what was going to happen,” said community member Bill Jacobs, referring to October’s meeting. “I appreciate all the work that was put in to get this done.”