By Kathianne Boniello
Even though the Oakland Ravine project was not slated to start until summertime, a Community Board 11 committee has already been considering what to do about the streets and homes in Bayside that will be affected by the $100 million sewer construction.
The Oakland Ravine Project was set to break ground in June or July and expected to end around 2004 with the goal of alleviating flooding and reworking the drainage system around Oakland Lake, Springfield Boulevard, 46th Avenue and Queensborough Community College.
The Oakland Ravine Project, also known as the Alley Pond Drainage Improvement project, calls for three phases of construction to install new drainage lines along Springfield Boulevard to 46th Avenue, and beneath the Cross Island Parkway and Northern Boulevard before going into an extremely large 900-foot-long tunnel leading into Alley Creek.
At a January meeting the Alley Pond Drainage Improvement Project Committee, which is part of CB 11, discussed converting 46th Avenue from a one-way street to a two-way street, suggested that residents videotape and photograph their properties before construction begins and said it planned to provide traffic agents to help students get to schools in the construction zone.
Community Board 11 includes the neighborhoods of Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston, Oakland Gardens, Auburndale and Hollis Hills.
According to the CB 11 committee, residents in the following areas in Bayside and Oakland Gardens were expected to be affected by the project:
• Cloverdale Boulevard between Northern Boulevard and 56th Avenue.
• Springfield Boulevard between Northern Boulevard and 56th Avenue.
• Bell Boulevard between Luke Place and 53rd Avenue.
• 46th Avenue between 223rd Street, Cloverdale and Springfield Boulevards.
• 56th Avenue from Cloverdale to Bell boulevards.
• 53rd Avenue between Bell Boulevard and 217th Street.
• Luke Place between 216th Street and 53rd Avenue.
• 217th Street between 53rd Avenue and Luke Place.
During the Oakland Ravine construction a large sewer chamber is to be installed at the intersection of 223rd Street and 46th Avenue, closing the location for about five months, according to the committee’s notes.
Construction is expected to last from about 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., giving residents limited access to their homes during the day.
The project is also slated to tear up the intersection of Northern Boulevard and the Cross Island Parkway, where a construction project to replace an overpass was just completed this past fall. The committee suggested that the project managers should avoid dismantling the newly rebuilt intersection.
The consultant on the Oakland Ravine Project, according to the committee’s notes, was also working with the state Department of Transportation to coordinate a construction schedule during the state’s efforts to reshape the interchange of the Cross Island Parkway and Long Island Expressway.
For more information on the project call CB 11 at 225-1054.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
