Green Acres traffic study released

An expansion project at the Green Acres Mall five years ago has not had a significant impact on traffic, a recent report shows.

A follow-up traffic study was required of Vornado Realty Trust, owners of the Valley Stream mall, after the construction of BJ’s Wholesale Club and Best Buy. According to the report, which was completed by VMI-Maris Traffic Consultants, present traffic volumes are lower than had been predicted in a 2004-05 study.

Dominick Minerva Jr., attorney for the mall, said that the follow-up traffic study was completed at the request of the state, county, town and Mill Brook Civic Association. He said that the study had to be done after all the new buildings were complete and businesses were operating for some time.

Marc Tenzer, president of the Mill Brook Civic Association, said it was supposed to be done within six months but is not concerned that the study took a little longer. He does wonder, however, if the traffic situation at the mall would be different if the economy were better.

The Mill Brook Civic Association represents 811 homes directly south of the Green Acres Mall. The neighborhood also includes more than two dozen garden apartment buildings.

“We felt there would be an increase in traffic that would affect our community,” Tenzer said about why the civic association pushed for the study five years ago. “People in our neighborhood were concerned.”

Results of the study shows that the current traffic volume at Sunrise Highway and Green Acres Road West is 20 percent less than what was expected. Traffic entering and exiting the mall during peak hours is 25 percent less than projections in the 2004-05 study.

Traffic counts and visual inspections of traffic flow were done by engineers this past June. Representatives of VMI-Maris also conducted surveys of BJ’s customers to determine how many came to the shopping complex just to visit the wholesale club, and how many also visited other merchants at Green Acres.

It was estimated in the 2004-05 study that just 16 percent of BJ’s customers would go to other stores in Green Acres. But in the survey of 107 shoppers there, 30 percent visited other places at the site. Minerva said this shows there were less “new trips” to the complex than expected with the addition of BJ’s. “More of the customers of BJ’s were there doing other shopping,” he said.

The 122,410 square-foot BJ’s was constructed at the south end of the mall property on a parking lot. Also part of that expansion was a new Best Buy and some smaller attached stores. That part of the shopping complex, near the west end, replaced a smaller building that had once housed Seamen’s Furniture. A new parking garage was also constructed.

Intersections

There are 12 intersections with traffic lights on or around the Green Acres property. Each one was studied for the report.

The worst of the dozen is Sunrise Highway at Mill Road and Central Avenue. Though traffic at the intersection is better than predicted in the 2004-05 study, there are still significant delays. Engineers looked into the possibility of widening Central Avenue and Mill Road, however that can not be accomplished because of the nearby train tracks. Central Road passes underneath the tracks less than 100 feet from Sunrise Highway, leaving no room for additional lanes.

Inside the mall property, it was noted there are significant backups on Green Acres Road because of cars waiting to turn left to go to Home Depot. “The problem is that left turn lane gets so clogged it blocks the other lanes,” Tenzer said.

The study recommends re-timing the traffic light at that intersection to accommodate the turning traffic. Minerva said this recommendation will be further reviewed to see what modifications can me made to improve traffic flow.

Tenzer said although it was not recommended in the report, he wants to have a left-turn signal added on Mill Road for Roosevelt Avenue. “I feel it’s necessary,” he said. “I’m going to push for it again.”

Town Councilman James Darcy said he was pleased to hear the traffic study was completed. “Anytime you have a proposed expansion, you want to make sure the expansion isn’t going to be causing problems,” he said.

Tenzer said in the five years since the expansion, he is pleased that there hasn’t been an additional traffic burden on the Mill Brook community.

He noted that Green Acres Mall management has taken care of other issues such as repairing broken planks and removing graffiti on the sound barrier between the shopping center and the residential community. “They agreed to do whatever it takes to make up happy,” he said, “and they’ve kept their word 100 percent.”