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By Vanessa Ogle
Brooklyn Daily
Drivers on the Belt Parkway are being kept in the dark.
More than two years after Hurricane Sandy, the lights on the stretch of the parkway between Flatbush Avenue and Knapp Street that were destroyed by the storm have still not been repaired, and one local said the lack of visibility on the busy highway puts everyone at risk for an accident.
“I worry about the crazy drivers. I worry about my kids,” said Tom Paolillo, a board member of the Sheepshead Bay-Plumb Beach Civic Association. “It is crazy dark.”
The Department of Transportation said the electrical distribution system was heavily damaged by the storm and the department has contractors rebuilding the Knapp Street circuit. The department claims the lights to be repaired by the end of October, but Paolillo said there should be temporary lights while the permanent lights are being repaired.
“You would think the contractor would be forced to put up some temporary lighting,” said Paolillo, who added that the neighborhood’s former councilman had tried to get the lights repaired before leaving office, to no avail. “It has taken way too long — Lew Fidler was working on those lights.”
Because the area is also undergoing roadwork, Paolillo said there is an even greater chance for car crashes that would be easily prevented with lights.
“You’re used to driving with overhead lights and it becomes dark,” he said. “It is like a double whammy over there.”
There have been eight accidents on that stretch of road since this lights went out in 2012, according to city data.
Councilman Alan Maisel (D–Marine Park) said he has written numerous letters to the department about the darkened parkway — and he said the department has already missed their original deadline.
“We originally were promised that the lights would be done by the end of summer,” he said. “It has been a slow response.”
Maisel said the community is put at risk because of the department’s delay.
“It is a very dangerous situation,” said Maisel. “They should have worked much, much faster.”