By Ayala Ben-Yehuda
Improvements to the interchange of the Clearview and Long Island expressways are running ahead of schedule, engineers from the state Department of Transportation said last week.
The $32 million project began in April 2001 and is 90 percent complete in dollar value with just 81 percent of the time allowed for the project elapsed.
Work completed this month included placement of cobblestone at the ramp split areas of the eastbound LIE to the northbound and southbound Clearview.
Guide rails were installed and embankments graded on the ramps from the northbound Clearview to the eastbound and westbound LIE.
Repairs were made and under-bridge lighting was installed in three bridges over the interchange.
In February, work will be limited on concrete and asphalt placement, bridge painting and other items due to weather restrictions, state DOT engineers told a Community Task Force meeting in Bayside last Thursday.
Pending the arrival of materials, sign structures are set to be built next month at all ramps. The ramp from the northbound Clearview to the westbound LIE will have its temporary pavement removed, a curb placed and a guide rail installed.
Bridge painting and landscaping at the interchange are scheduled to resume in April.
The street lights on the eastbound LIE service road between Francis Lewis Boulevard and Oceania Street, and on the ramp from the eastbound LIE to the northbound Clearview, are not working due to corrosion of underground electricity feeds, engineers said.
A temporary feed has allowed half the lights to stay on, but a trench will be dug across the eastbound LIE in April to install a new feed. Engineers have not yet settled on a lane closure plan for the electrical work, but said one or more lanes would be closed during late night and early morning hours.
The entire project's completion is set for June 30.
