Grand Boulevard To Get Facelift

A section of Grand Boulevard is set to go under the knife this fall.

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The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a contract between the city and the Westbury-based Roadwork Ahead for removal of the roadbeds and replacement with a multi-layer asphaltic-concrete pavement; concrete curb, sidewalk and driveway apron reconstruction, and curbside landscape upgrades on Grand between West Park Avenue and West Beech Street.

Roadwork Ahead was the lowest bidder among six for the project that will cost of $558,560, but City Manager Jack Schnirman said that the New York State Department of Transportation CHIPS (Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program) would fund the project 100 percent. The city will dip into its capital improvement funds to start the project as soon as possible but CHIPS will reimburse the city for the total cost.

“It’s very satisfying to be able to recommend that this work to move forward and get done,” Schnirman told the council members. “It’s something that’s been a longtime coming.”

Schnirman said CHIPS does not pay for repairs under roadways, such as storm sewer systems and the like, and that is why Grand Boulevard was chosen: the underground infrastructure on that street is “perfectly intact,” he added.

Councilman Len Torres asked who would pay for the work if, after the roadway was removed, it was discovered that infrastructure needed repairs.

Joe Febrizio, the city’s deputy commissioner of Public Works, said the city would be responsible for such work. “I’m pretty confident that we’ll have no issues,” said Fabrizio, who said the storm sewer system on that street is “in good shape.”

Febrizio said the project is expected to start in mid-September and will “hopefully” be completed by December. “It’s a pretty straightforward contract,” said Febrizio, who noted that truck traffic on Grand Boulevard would be rerouted to Lindell Boulevard during construction.  

Febrizio said that Roadwork Ahead recently completed road reconstruction work at Illinois Avenue. This prompted George Gentilesco, who lives on that West End street, to report a potential storm drain problem on the newly rebuild road, saying water pools in the middle of the street outside his home and two neighboring homes.

“It just lays there and doesn’t go anywhere,” Gentilesco said. “So it’s not fixed properly.”