By Adam Kramer
Fifth in a series
Queens residents and commuters who use the Long Island Expressway and the Cross Island Parkway will have to brace themselves for another round of traffic delays and pile-ups.
The state Department of Transportation is ready to start the reconfiguration of the interchange, which includes the closing of Exit 31 on both sides of the LIE. The elimination of the exit could reduce customer traffic at the Douglaston Plaza Shopping Center, one retailer warned.
The $150 million project to redesign the interchange between the Long Island Expressway and the Cross Island Parkway has been part of a battle between the northeast Queens community and the DOT since 1996, when the DOT proposed extending the LIE's High Occupancy Vehicle lane into Queens.
“Now that they have a contractor, Pereni Construction, the project should be starting momentarily,” said Bernard Haber, chairman of Community Board 11, which covers Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston, Oakland Gardens, Hollis Hills and part of Auburndale. “The project should be completed in two to three years.”
The DOT plan calls for altering the entrance and exit ramps between the expressway and the Cross Island from a clover leaf design to one exit-entrance lane in both directions.
It differs from the original plan, which would have expanded the size of the LIE and kept Exit 31 open, but would have used a large tract of land in Alley Pond Park. Haber said the new plan will stay within the existing boundaries of the expressway.
At a Monday morning news conference at the Douglaston Plaza Shopping Center, which is fed by the eastbound Exit 31, Democratic state Senate candidate Rory Lancman condemned the closing of the exit and faulted the DOT for not holding public hearings on the plan.
“The New York State Department of Transportation, as part of a larger Long Island Expressway project, is eliminating Exit 31,” Lancman said. “You will now have to go to Little Neck Parkway or get off at East Hampton Boulevard to get to the area.”
He said the closing of the exit will cause major traffic problems for the residents of Little Neck and Douglaston, and he cited 1,200 signatures on a petition protesting the DOT's plan.
“The exit's closing is bad for the area's business and thousands of residents because the neighborhood will experience an overflow of traffic,” he said.
Anna Levine, who lives in Douglaston, said residents use the exit to get to their homes or into the Douglaston Shopping Plaza. She was angry that the community had no involvement in the decision-making process.
“The families who live here will now have to go to the Little Neck Parkway and circle around,” she said. “Now the Horace Harding [Expressway] will be flooded between Springfield Boulevard and the Little Neck Parkway. There is certainly going to be a greater amount of accidents.”
The shopping plaza houses Waldbaum's, AMS Shoes, Movie World, Modell's Sporting Goods, Sterns, Burger King, Preferred Dental Care and Toy's 'R' Us.
Aaron Fleishaker, a senior vice president at Modell's, said the closing of the exit will affect the store's business because the plaza can be seen from the expressway and consumers have been able to exit right into the mall. Now customers will have to circle back to the mall through local streets, he said, which could discourage potential customers
“As far as people not knowing about the shutting of the exit, that is not quite accurate,” said Haber. “People did know about it. I can't say that everyone knew about the construction, but people knew what was going on.”
He said Community Board 11 knew the exist would be eliminated and held meetings to discuss the DOT's plan. The civics in the neighborhoods affected by the construction also knew what was happening and the Douglaston Civic Association discussed the construction project, Haber said.
He said the DOT closed the westbound exit of the expressway because the exit was dangerous and it needed to be closed. Haber also said the DOT claimed the reason it was shutting the eastbound exit was to prevent people from getting on and off the highway.
He said the 111th Precinct will make a concerted effort to keep trucks off the through-streets.
“Trucks can travel on the streets for delivery and pick-up purposes only, not for through traffic,” Haber said. “Springfield Boulevard, the Clearview Expressway and Francis Lewis Boulevard are the north-south through arteries. Illegal truck traffic might increase, but legally they can't use the street.”
– Kathianne Boniello contributed to this story
