Tuesday, June 17, 2025
The Village of Lawrence aims to begin repairing the lights along State Route 878, near the Lawrence side of the Atlantic Beach Bridge, in the coming days, and to complete the work by the end of the month.
The pledge comes after the village announced a plan to fix the broken lights on the highway, also known as the Nassau Expressway, in early April, a project that Five Towns residents have requested for years.
Lawrence Mayor Samuel Nahmias, who has been working to solve the longstanding problem since he chaired the Nassau County Bridge Authority, said that of the 54 lights along the Lawrence side of the Expressway, 11 are in need of repair. The lights that stretch from the Atlantic Beach Bridge to Rock Hall Road remain out of service, having sustained structural damage and wiring erosion caused by saltwater flooding during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Nahmias added that the other 43 lights only required new bulbs, and are now operational.
To fix the remaining lights, he said on May 6, “We just selected a company called Hinck Electric, and the goal is still the end of May. We were in the process of selecting a company through a bid. They submitted a work and safety plan in April that we reviewed, and then we selected them based off of that.”
Nahmias, who was elected mayor last year, said the issue has grown more urgent due to an increase in traffic on the Atlantic Beach Bridge since the implementation of E-ZPass in December 2023, when he served as chairman of the bridge authority.
Lawrence’s Department of Public Works requested outside assessment by Welsbach Electric, which determined that the project would cost roughly $200,000, excluding the 43 bulb replacements.
In February, the village announced that it had received a state grant for $150,000, with the help of State Sen. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick, to help with the lighting repair. The village will cover the remaining $50,000.
In a statement to the Herald on April 7, Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick wrote that she was proud to help secure funding for the project, along with Assemblyman Ari Brown and Nahmias, to help maintain the safety of thousands of Five Towns residents.
“It’s important that we make real investments in Route 878, because this isn’t just a local road — it’s a critical access point for thousands of commuters, residents and first responders,” Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick wrote. “The stretch near the Atlantic Beach Bridge, in particular, has been plagued by longstanding infrastructure challenges, especially inadequate lighting.”
According to Lawrence Village Administrator Gerry Castro, the village originally overestimated the cost of addressing the problem under the previous administration. Castro said the new estimate is more fiscally reasonable for the village, which is why it can now move forward with the project.
“The scope of work initially was just much broader than, I guess, really what needed to be corrected,” Castro said. “But after a review and diagnostics of the area, now that we had also cleared out a little bit of vegetation around to make it more accessible, I think we were able to achieve a better diagnostic, which resulted in a much smaller scope of work.”
For years, area residents have called on village officials to address the lighting issues on Route 878. Barry Ringelheim, of Atlantic Beach, said he is one of those who have repeated called for action, in the interest of residents’ safety and well-being.
“The main reason it should be done, it’s saving people’s lives, and to avoid accidents,” Ringelheim said. “That’s why Meadowbrook Parkway has the most beautiful lights going to Jones Beach, and that was all redone recently. Our lights haven’t been done since 2013. Do you have to have an accident where someone dies to get something done?”
Have an opinion about the conditions of the Nassau Expressway? Send a letter to mberman@liherald.com.
