By Rich Bockmann
Bell Boulevard will have a brand new look and feel to it this summer after the roadway gets milled and repaved some time in August.
Greg Sullivan, executive director of the Bayside Village Business Improvement District, has been working with Community Board 11 and elected officials on the state and city levels to put pressure on the city Department of Transportation to resurface the ragged road.
The DOT originally planned to repave the boulevard in fiscal year 2013, but at the urging of City Councilman Dan Halloran (R-Whitestone), state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) and state Assemblyman Ed Braunstein (D-Bayside), Queens DOT Commissioner Maura McCarthy agreed to address the section of the road between 35th Avenue and Northern Boulevard this summer.
Standing in front of Okinawa Restaurant on the west side of the street between 39th and 41st avenues last week, Sullivan pointed to where pools of stagnant water and trash had collected in the fissures and holes of the street’s surface. In the middle of the road, the surface is so bumpy from patched potholes that cars bounce up and down incessantly as they drive by.
“It’s been bad like this for about a year now. This winter just tore us open,” he said. “Some kind of bag or something has gotten in there and now there’s this white stuff all over the place. It smells and it’s dirty and you can’t get rid of it.
A pungent smell emanated from the puddle, and on the warm day many of the nearby shops had their doors and windows open.
“The other day I saw a woman coming out of the eye supply store and she almost tripped,” Sullivan said.
The road work will take place during evening hours.
“Repaving Bell Boulevard will make the street smoother and, most importantly, safer,” Halloran said in a written statement. “And it will be done without disrupting the small businesses that call Bell Boulevard home.”
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
