Details…
By Kathianne Boniello
Drivers who are tired of seeing construction work on northeast Queens expressways better get ready: next month the state Department of Transportation plans to begin a new project to revamp the interchange between the LIE and Clearview Expressway.
Details of the Clearview Expressway and Long Island Expressway project, which is expected to begin in May, were presented to Community Board 11 during the group’s Monday night meeting at MS 158 in Bayside.
At least three major construction projects are slated to be ongoing in northeast Queens in 2001: the LIE-Cross Island Parkway interchange project, which is expected to reshape the exchange between the two highways and add park land to Alley Pond Park; the Oakland Ravine Project, scheduled to begin in July 2001 and stretch from Bayside Hills to the shoreline of Alley Pond Park; and the LIE-Clearview Expressway interchange project.
The LIE-Clearview Expressway project is scheduled to last 26 months and expected to concentrate on the reconstruction or repaving of the exit and entrance ramps between the two highways, said Yosry Nasr, project manager for the Manhattan firm of Ammann & Whitney. The firm was hired by the state DOT to design the interchange project.
Community Board 11 covers the communities of Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston, Oakland Gardens, Hollis Hills and Auburndale.
While Bernard Haber, chairman of CB 11, said the majority of the LIE-Clearview work is the reconstruction of the exit and entrance ramps at the interchange, Nasr described two major detours to guide traffic through local streets.
During the project, the exit and entrance ramp connecting the westbound LIE and the northbound Clearview Expressway will be repaved, Nasr said.
The work will be done at night with a detour expected to take drivers from the LIE at the Clearview north to Northern Boulevard, where vehicles will have an opportunity to go back south toward the LIE to get around the work, Nasr said. The detour would be in effect during the nighttime construction work, he said, and the ramp would be open to traffic during the day.
The second major detour is slated to occur on Oceania Avenue near MS 74 in Bayside, which is located close to the interchange between the LIE and the Clearview.
The detour, which Nasr said was mapped out after consulting the community, calls for converting a one-block area of Oceania Street at the LIE to a one-way street northbound to allow traffic to reach the northbound service road of the Long Island Expressway.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
