Summit will explore pedestrian and bike safety on LI

The annual Long Island Complete Streets Summit will explore issues and solutions surrounding walkability in downtowns throughout Nassau and Suffolk counties. 

Scheduled for 8 a.m. to noon on Thursday, March 23 at Antun’s by Minar in Hicksville, the summit is hosted by Vision Long Island and will feature walkability expert Dan Burden, director of innovation and inspiration for Blue Zones, as its keynote speaker. 

Burden, who made Planetizen’s list of “100 Most Influential Urbanists,” is a co-founder of Walkable Communities Inc. and is recognized as a leader in transportation planning. Following the summit, Burden will visit Long Island areas in need of safety improvements that have been identified by local community leaders in Huntington Station, Hempstead, Deer Park and Coram/Middle Island. 

The Complete Streets summit will also include updates from several elected officials, planning experts and community leaders, including Nassau County Presiding Officer Richard Nicollelo; Nassau legislators Delia Deriggi Whitton, Siela Bynoe and Debra Mule; Bernard Macias from AARP; Frank Wefering from Greenman Pedersen; Rosemary Mascali from Move LI; Dan Flanzig from NY Bike Lawyers; Elissa Kyle of Vision Long Island; Carter Strickland from Trust for Public Land; and several others. 

Over the last five years Vision Long Island, AARP and local community leaders have led walking audits in many Long Island communities, including the villages of Hempstead, Valley Stream, Rockville Centre, Lynbrook, Amityville, Freeport, the City of Glen Cove, Huntington Station, Coram, Middle Island, Central Islip, the Shinnecock Tribal Nation and Wyandanch.  

The resulting recommendations for roadway improvements help lay the groundwork for investments from federal and state infrastructure funding in existing and future capital plans, according to a Vision Long Island statement. 

“With more Long Islanders walking, biking, patronizing local downtowns and working from home reducing speeds and providing safe road design solutions critical,” Eric Alexander, director of Vision Long Island, said in the statement. “Some solutions are as simple as painted crosswalks, better lighting, medians and street trees that have all been employed in parts of Long Island and other areas around the country that both save lives and improve our local communities.”   

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