By Kathianne Boniello
The project to reconstruct entrance/exit ramps between the Clearview and Long Island expressways appears to be chugging along slightly ahead of schedule, a community liaison for the construction said last week.
Work to renovate the interchange between the Clearview and the Long Island expressways is about 30 percent complete, spokeswoman Randi Blecher said. Most of the construction involves either rebuilding or repaving entrance/exit ramps connecting the two highways and reconstructing some of the LIE overpasses in that area.
Blecher said some of the construction work had knocked out power to many of the street lamps near Francis Lewis Boulevard and Oceania Street.
“About two-thirds of them have been restored,” she said of the power for street lamps along the LIE between St. Francis Prep and MS 74.
In addition to the project’s ramp work, January and February construction was also expected to include the beginnings of a noise wall along the Clearview Expressway near the Bay Bridge cooperative apartments.
Blecher said the noise wall, which will feature a bird design, was requested by area residents and partially funded with help from state Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza (D-Bayside).
Blecher said the noise wall was “an extension of the project.”
The Clearview-LIE work is the second major interchange construction project in northeast Queens and is about two miles from the larger Cross Island Parkway-LIE interchange project.
The Cross Island Parkway-LIE interchange project began last year. Its purpose is to rebuild several overpasses on the expressway in Little Neck and Douglaston, close the westbound Exit 31 for Douglaston Parkway on the LIE, and add parkland back to Alley Pond Park.
The Cross Island Parkway-LIE project has had a bigger effect on local residents in Little Neck and Douglaston than the Clearview work by tying up traffic and actually changing the position of the entrance/exit ramps between the two highways.
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
