By: JAMES T. MADORE
July 25, 2012

Three major road-resurfacing contracts and another to replace the sides of more than a dozen bridges crossing key arterials in Nassau and Suffolk will start in coming weeks, state officials said. 

The first of five state contracts on Long Island — 19 projects in all — for repair work worth around $60 million will kick off with construction on nearly 11 miles of the Long Island Expressway between exits 68 and 73 in the towns of Brookhaven and Riverhead, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said Wednesday. The contracts are part of the governor's NY Works program of accelerated design-build projects announced in April meant to boost jobs and the economy. 

Also due for road-resurfacing work as part of the program next month is State Route 25A from Bread and Cheese Hollow Road to Sunken Meadow State Parkway in Huntington and Smithtown. Resurfacing work for a stretch of the Meadowbrook State Parkway from Merrick Road north to the Southern State Parkway in Nassau is expected to start in September, said Bill Reynolds, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. 

The LIE work, a $6.2 million contract awarded to Old Bethpage-based New York Paving, will repair the concrete surface both east- and westbound between William Floyd Parkway/County Road 46 (Exit 68) and State Route 25 (Exit 73). This section of the expressway was last rehabilitated in 2005-06, state transportation officials said. Repairs are expected to be completed this fall, weather permitting. 

While commuters are to be mostly spared the worst of construction delays, with the work mainly conducted at night and at off-peak daytime hours, delays are expected, according to the state DOT. 

Cuomo has said NY Works focuses on improving pavement in fair condition and bringing it to good condition. The preventive maintenance is to help preserve the state's infrastructure and guard against the need for more costly, in-depth construction. 

A contract with East Setauket-based Bove Industries to replace 17 bridge parapets — the bridge sides — also will start next month, Reynolds said. That contract, as with the Meadowbrook and Route 25A resurfacing contracts, were awarded to Posillico Civil Inc. of Farmingdale.