The final phase of the Village of New Hyde Park $1.46 million project to upgrade the village’s Jericho Turnpike is now near the finish line, village officials said Monday.
“Construction work is fundamentally completed,” village Trustee Donald Barbieri said. “We’re all but at the end of the project.”
Barbieri said village contractor J Anthony Enterprises has finished building several bulbouts – rounded sidewalk curbs intended to slow traffic at intersections – along Jericho Turnpike and a subcontractor has completed laying rustic red brickwork on some sidewalks.
Barbieri said benches and planters remain to be set in place as amenities intended to improve the village business district’s aesthetic appeal to shoppers.
“They’re going to set them in place. That’s part of the contract,” Barbieri said. “It should all be finished by the end of this month.”
Barbieri said some plantings made last November by state Department of Transportation contractor Tully Construction still need to be replaced in the Jericho Turnpike median after the plants died last winter. Tully had installed the medians as part of its work to repave Jericho Turnpike from the Queens line to the Glen Cove Road in Mineola.
Village of New Hyde Park Mayor Robert Lofaro said in mid June he thought the final phase of the project dubbed Operation Mainstreet would be completed by the end of June.
But in the last week of June, the state Department of Transportation suspended the project after funding was halted by the Federal Highway Administration because a May 31 deadline for completion of the project had passed.
Lofaro said the village subsequently filed for an extension with the DOT, which has oversight of the project, and requested that J Anthony Enterprises agree to an extension as required by the state.
State DOT spokesperson Eileen Peters said village officials had failed to submit a required reimbursement form to the DOT, which administers funding for the project. Peters said that prompted the Federal Highway Administration to put a stop on the project funds. She said the funding was reinstated as of June 11.
Lofaro said on June 17 that J Anthony Enterprises said the project would be completed in a few more days – with the exception of the installation of the benches and planters.
Operation Mainstreet suffered a series of delays since Bohemia-based J Anthony began work on the final phase last November.
The project was interrupted in January due to inclement weather and did not resume until mid March.
Lofaro publicly complained about the company at a May 6 village board meeting when it became apparent that J Anthony was going to miss a May 15 deadline on its $1.46 million contract.
“We’ve been so disappointed with J Anthony. They’re never going to work in this village again,” Lofaro said at the meeting. “They’re never going to finish. It’s a been a disaster from the get go.”
Lofaro has said the board would consider taking legal action against J Anthony Enterprises once the project is finished.
The village board awarded the contract for the remaining work on Operation Mainstreet to J Anthony last August after the contractor submitted the low bid.
Repeated attempts to reach J Anthony Enterprises President Joseph Knesich fwere have been unavailing.
