Why is Woodfield Road such a problem?

The 73-year-old woman who was struck by a car on Woodfield Road earlier this month marked yet another accident on a street that local West Hempstead residents are calling a “drag strip” for its ongoing issues with reckless and speeding drivers.

County officials are taking action to mitigate those issues — but to some residents, it’s too little too late.

After 12-year-old Tomas Molina was struck by a car and killed on Woodfield Road, Nassau County officials expedited a traffic study on the road — specifically including the Lindberg Street intersection where Molina died. Legislators Bill Gaylor and John Giuffré held a news conference on that very intersection Aug. 21 to announce the construction of a traffic light that will be up and running in approximately three weeks.

“West Hempstead is a walking community, and the safety of our residents is of the utmost importance,” Gaylor said in a statement. “Whether they are driving in their cars, bicycling down the street or walking in the neighborhood, people have expectations of safety.”

Gaylor and Giuffré also announced an enhanced traffic study for Woodfield. While the study after Molina’s death focused on specific intersections of concern, this study will be taking place on the entirety of Woodfield Road. It will track traffic patterns and volume, as well as both pedestrian and car traffic,

“From that traffic study, engineers will be able to figure out and redesign what additional traffic control devices — signage, crosswalks, lights, bump-outs on curves — to slow the traffic down and make this a much safer stretch of roadway,” Gaylor said.

To some residents, though, county officials took too long to address a decades-long problem in the community. Jake Scheiner, a candidate for county legislator, held a news conference and community rally on the corner of Woodfield Road and Maple Street. He congratulated officials on implementing an additional traffic light, but echoed community members’ demands’ for further action and their questions as to why it took years — and multiple deaths — for something to be done. He also called for more transparency on the traffic safety process.

“We were promised the installation of a traffic light before the end of the summer,” Scheiner said. “We want to see a concrete plan of action and a concrete timeline on this project.” 

In an April 27 town meeting, Public Works Commissioner Ken Arnold said that the traffic light would be up in July or early August before kids return to school. According to Gaylor and Giuffré’s Aug. 21 press conference, the traffic light will be up in mid-September.

Bob Harris, who has lived on Woodfield Road for 44 years and has spent decades campaigning for further safety measures, has first-hand experience of the road’s safety issues.

“I have witnessed the rampant speeding, illegal passing, tailgating, and unfortunately worse, accidents on this road,” Harris said at the conference. “This is a street where the beginning has a supermarket and a railroad station, a couple of small shops on Chestnut.

Otherwise, this is a residential street, a residential neighborhood, where safety should be paramount.”

He said that the response from public officials has been inadequate, and that he received excuses during his meetings with local supervisors. 

“The best I was able to get was a painted sign on the road saying ‘30 mph,’ on top of the signs that already say that,” Harris said.

“The area between Eagle until you get to Chestnut is like a speedway, with absolutely no controls whatsoever,” he added.

Sagine Pierre-Charles, West Hempstead resident and president of the Chamber of Commerce, also spoke at the conference. She said she is particularly concerned as a parent of two young daughters. She tells her children, ages 14 and 11, to avoid Woodfield Road when they ride their bikes.

“I want to raise my family in a place where my kids can feel safe, my neighbors can feel safe,” Pierre-Charles said.

Multiple “traffic calming” techniques have already been implemented on the road, such as a tree canopy and a curved curb, according to Nassau County Public Works Commissioner Ken Arnold in the April 27 West Hempstead public meeting.

The initial traffic study determined that Woodfield intersections did not meet qualifications for traffic light, but county executive Bruce Blakeman overturned the order due to community need. That study also found that the average speed on those sections of Woodfield is 32 miles per hour, and the 85th percentile of speed is 38 miles per hour.

However, an accident only takes one individual driving recklessly. There are stretches of Woodfield where drivers can reach over 100 mph in between lights, as was the case in the Oct. 2021 deaths of teenagers Kurtis Caeser and Amanda Arguinzoni.

The enhanced traffic study of Woodfield Road will begin in “mid-fall,” Gaylor’s news release said. An end date for the study has not been set yet.