Travel Lanes Under Construction on Route 111

Hauppauge drivers have see the Route 347 construction area expand over the past two week, as construction workers moved heavy machinery onto Route 111. 

New York State Department of Transportation plans to widen Route 111 at the Route 347/Nesconset Highway intersection in effort to increase mobility reduce traffic along one of Hauppauge's main arteries. 

"Turning lanes and through lanes will be added to get more cars through each time, there's only so much time for each green light," said Eileen Peters, a spokeswoman for New York DOT. 

The travel lanes will start just south of the McDonald's on Route 111, behind the Hauppauge Shopping Center, and extend just north of the Hess gas station. As part of the widening, construction crews will have to install new drainage, curbs, sidewalks and repave the indicated section of roadway. 

The construction is associated with the Route 347 greenway project. The New York State Department of Transportation began work on the road more than a year ago to transform the North Shore artery into the Long Island's first greenway, a roadway conceived with pedestrians and the environment in mind. The area outside the diner is only part of phase one. When that segment is finished, the workers will move down the road.

In addition, construction crews are also reinforcing and repairing the Long Island Expressway overpass to Route 111. Peters said its is part of a larger project that aims to repair 9 steel bridges between Suffolk and Nassau counties at a cost of   $11,528,000. The projected end date for the entire project is June 30, 2013.