State completes Route 25A makeover in Setauket and Port Jeff
After a summer of slowdowns due to roadwork, it’s finally smooth sailing down Route 25A from Nicolls Road to Main Street/East Broadway in Port Jefferson.
State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) said he’s delighted the work is completed.
“It’s been something we’ve been advocating for a number of years, and it’s been a long time coming, but it’s finally here, and it’s a beautiful job that they’ve done,” he said.
Before roadwork could be carried out by the New York State Department of Transportation, National Grid had to perform gas main replacement work, which involved maintenance of the underground distribution system. Work in East Setauket was scheduled to be completed by Memorial Day and in Port Jefferson by the end of June, according to a National Grid spokesperson. In August, National Grid returned because work took longer than expected in some spots.
The utility company’s work was necessary before milling and repaving of Route 25A by the DOT could begin. The project restored the road’s pavement by removing the existing asphalt overlay, repairing any damage to the underlying base and resurfacing with new asphalt.
Englebright said last week there were still small spots here and there that still needed residual work done by the DOT, and crews were at the locations.
“There were a number of holdups and glitches and delays,” Englebright said. “Quite frankly, the DOT did its best to overcome them, but there were some things that they didn’t really anticipate and found to be more complicated than they thought.”
The assemblyman said even though the work took a little longer than anticipated it was still done in the fall time frame that the DOT originally hoped for with the job.
In January 2020, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced $151 million in new funding to complement $743 million in direct state aid provided through the PAVE NY Initiative for local road and bridge projects. Of the allocation, $6.6 million was planned to help renew the Route 25A stretch, according to a press release from the governor’s office.
Englebright brought the severity of local road conditions to the attention of the state DOT. The designated areas have been subjected to serious degradation due to water seepage into road seams and large clusters of filled potholes creating rutted, uneven and unsafe surfaces. One of the worst sections was the roadway near the East Setauket Post Office to CVS, but other sections had deteriorated rapidly, including the hill from Poquott into Port Jefferson.
