Residents Get Wish for Traffic Barriers

Residents who wanted to restrict traffic access to their neighborhood got their wish this week when the city began installing permanent barriers to divert traffic at two intersections.

Temporary barriers consisting of asphalt berms and potted palm trees were placed at two spots--Broadway and Santa Clara Avenue, and Broadway and 19th Street--in July 1993 to restrict access to the Floral Park neighborhood while the nearby Main Street bridge was closed for construction.

The bridge, part of a main thoroughfare, was reopened in 1995, but many Floral Park residents said they wanted to keep the barriers because they had reduced traffic and crime, made streets safer for children and may even have raised home values.

Dozens of residents turned out for a public hearing to express those views to the City Council.

Other residents from Floral Park and surrounding areas, however, said that the barriers had directed the overflow traffic into their neighborhoods instead.

The council voted to install permanent barriers, but the $101,000 project was delayed while plans were drawn up and officials could consult with residents.

Construction on the permanent barriers, which will require narrowing the streets, is underway and is projected to finish in about two weeks.

“We couldn’t leave it the way it was,” city construction inspector Ronald R. Hawley said. “It just wasn’t very nice.”

The barriers at Broadway and Santa Clara Avenue will allow traffic to travel east only on Santa Clara Avenue, or out of the Floral Park neighborhood. Traffic at Broadway and 19th Street will move west, or into Floral Park.