Village finally repaves dirt roads

Three roads are finally paved after months of waiting.

Earle Avenue, Brevoort Place and Hamilton Road east of Long Beach Road received their first layer of asphalt last week — after roadwork started in March. The three roads were torn down and rebuilt as part of the 2014 road program, and were dirt for months.

According to area residents, the dirt roads made getting around difficult for the past few months. Neysa Valentin of Breevort Place said it was hard for her disabled mother to get out of the house while the sidewalk was being replaced.

“I just had my house power washed before they started doing this,” said Adrian Sottovia of Hamilton Road. “And if you look at my house now, I mean, it’s filthy dirty.” He also said the road turned into mud when it rained. Residents said the village did not give them an end date for the work when construction started.

“Some think of the road reconstruction project as one event, but it is several,” wrote village spokeswoman Julie Scully in an email. “First the water main replacement project is done. That’s one contractor [Allen Industries] under one contract. They need to rip up the road, install new water mains, wait for [Nassau] County approval to put those mains into service and then we put the mains in, switch over service and it’s done. The road isn’t completely ripped up, but there is debris. Then a second contractor [Roadwork Ahead] comes and rips up the road more, installs new curbs and concrete, works around drainage and manholes, and works on the electric supply, grades the roads, then paves.”

The next step, she said, was for Roadwork Ahead to also put down the first layer of asphalt, which happened last week.

The final step is a top layer of asphalt and replacing the sidewalk footings, which will be done by Roadwork Ahead. The second layer should be completed in the next week, depending on the weather. Village workers will replace the streetlights and also put in sod and trees in the sidewalks in the fall.