Black Phantom
Active member
August 19, 2010 | 07:18 AM
When it rains, it pours! Just ask residents and business owners on and around Route 110 in Halesite, who learned last week that they'll wait longer than expected to see the perpetual flooding problem addressed.
Set for completion this year, the state Department of Transportation's Route 110 Drainage and Roadway Improvement Project was put on hold when New York failed to pass its budget on time and the contractor with the winning bid did not obtain a performance bond. Now the project, which would address flooding conditions and improve stormwater runoff for a mile-long stretch from Youngs Hill Road to Prime Avenue and Madison Street, won't start until October.
"As everybody in this area knows, when it rains hard — sometimes it's in conjunction with high tide — the road is impassable. The police close it," said Debbie Costa, who works at Helen Keller Services for the Blind on New York Avenue. Sometimes when seniors are at their site, they are not permitted to return home. Others cannot reach the facility.
The worst part, she said, is when the road overflows with water, cesspools fill and toilets back up. "When that happens, obviously no one can be here. … It's been horrendous, really horrendous."
At least three state legislators have publicly addressed the issue. Sen. Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset), Assemblyman James Conte (R-Huntington Station) and Assemblyman Andrew Raia (R-East Northport) met Friday at a site that has flooded routinely.
"The endless trail of bureaucrats fiddling while Rome burns is legendary," Marcellino said. "The businesses and the residents of the area deserve better. I will not rest until you can safely travel this area without carrying a life jacket in your backseat."
The job was held up first by the state budget, which only passed last month, said DOT spokeswoman Eileen Peters. Once it did, the department processed the bids to award the job, only to learn that the contractor with the winning bid could not produce a performance bond.
"The performance bond is basically the insurance that he is going to do exactly what he says he's going to," Peters said. "We are just as disappointed as everyone else that this is not moving forward as quickly as we had hoped due to the budget problems. However, it is set for a new bid opening Oct. 14 and we are hopefully optimistic that this will be under way by the end of this year, with what comes down to several months delay."
For years, the project was held up because the DOT couldn't reach an agreement with the town, Raia said. The DOT wanted a piece of property in which they could put a sump. The two parties eventually agreed on a site for the sump.
"It was always clear that the state would need part of the Naval Reserve property for the recharge basin, but … how much land they would need and what part of the property they wanted were pending completion of the final design," town spokesman A.J. Carter stated. "Late last year, the state came to the town with a final design. The Town Board passed a resolution approving the transfer shortly afterward."
Lorraine Spina of Abbott Drive was instrumental in bringing town officials together with the DOT to address the sump issue. She agreed the DOT had been held up for years because they couldn't get cooperation from other parties.
"The DOT is doing a great job," Spina said. "Everything is set in place. The next step is just to get a bidder. … They want to solve this problem just as much as the residents do. None of the politicians have done that and they should not get credit for the work that's going to be done."
But Raia said that while people in the DOT's Albany office wanted to push the project off until next year, the three state legislators with Spina's help have been instrumental in keeping it to an October deadline.
Part of the problem, Raia said, is that in a bad economy, contractors have a hard time getting jobs and tend to "lowball" their estimates. The DOT rejected the second lowest bid, Raia explained, because it had no confidence that the contractor could actually complete the work as proposed.
Raia nonetheless defends the competitive bidding process, claiming it's there to prevent fraud. "You can be the best contractor in the world but if you can't get the performance bond, we're not willing to roll the dice. Sometimes it's better that you have to find this out up front than in the middle of the project."
He added, "I'm happy this is just a short delay to what's turned out to be an extremely long process that the residents have had to put up with. The end is in sight."
When it rains, it pours! Just ask residents and business owners on and around Route 110 in Halesite, who learned last week that they'll wait longer than expected to see the perpetual flooding problem addressed.
Set for completion this year, the state Department of Transportation's Route 110 Drainage and Roadway Improvement Project was put on hold when New York failed to pass its budget on time and the contractor with the winning bid did not obtain a performance bond. Now the project, which would address flooding conditions and improve stormwater runoff for a mile-long stretch from Youngs Hill Road to Prime Avenue and Madison Street, won't start until October.
"As everybody in this area knows, when it rains hard — sometimes it's in conjunction with high tide — the road is impassable. The police close it," said Debbie Costa, who works at Helen Keller Services for the Blind on New York Avenue. Sometimes when seniors are at their site, they are not permitted to return home. Others cannot reach the facility.
The worst part, she said, is when the road overflows with water, cesspools fill and toilets back up. "When that happens, obviously no one can be here. … It's been horrendous, really horrendous."
At least three state legislators have publicly addressed the issue. Sen. Carl Marcellino (R-Syosset), Assemblyman James Conte (R-Huntington Station) and Assemblyman Andrew Raia (R-East Northport) met Friday at a site that has flooded routinely.
"The endless trail of bureaucrats fiddling while Rome burns is legendary," Marcellino said. "The businesses and the residents of the area deserve better. I will not rest until you can safely travel this area without carrying a life jacket in your backseat."
The job was held up first by the state budget, which only passed last month, said DOT spokeswoman Eileen Peters. Once it did, the department processed the bids to award the job, only to learn that the contractor with the winning bid could not produce a performance bond.
"The performance bond is basically the insurance that he is going to do exactly what he says he's going to," Peters said. "We are just as disappointed as everyone else that this is not moving forward as quickly as we had hoped due to the budget problems. However, it is set for a new bid opening Oct. 14 and we are hopefully optimistic that this will be under way by the end of this year, with what comes down to several months delay."
For years, the project was held up because the DOT couldn't reach an agreement with the town, Raia said. The DOT wanted a piece of property in which they could put a sump. The two parties eventually agreed on a site for the sump.
"It was always clear that the state would need part of the Naval Reserve property for the recharge basin, but … how much land they would need and what part of the property they wanted were pending completion of the final design," town spokesman A.J. Carter stated. "Late last year, the state came to the town with a final design. The Town Board passed a resolution approving the transfer shortly afterward."
Lorraine Spina of Abbott Drive was instrumental in bringing town officials together with the DOT to address the sump issue. She agreed the DOT had been held up for years because they couldn't get cooperation from other parties.
"The DOT is doing a great job," Spina said. "Everything is set in place. The next step is just to get a bidder. … They want to solve this problem just as much as the residents do. None of the politicians have done that and they should not get credit for the work that's going to be done."
But Raia said that while people in the DOT's Albany office wanted to push the project off until next year, the three state legislators with Spina's help have been instrumental in keeping it to an October deadline.
Part of the problem, Raia said, is that in a bad economy, contractors have a hard time getting jobs and tend to "lowball" their estimates. The DOT rejected the second lowest bid, Raia explained, because it had no confidence that the contractor could actually complete the work as proposed.
Raia nonetheless defends the competitive bidding process, claiming it's there to prevent fraud. "You can be the best contractor in the world but if you can't get the performance bond, we're not willing to roll the dice. Sometimes it's better that you have to find this out up front than in the middle of the project."
He added, "I'm happy this is just a short delay to what's turned out to be an extremely long process that the residents have had to put up with. The end is in sight."
