Nighttime Nicolls Road Closures to Begin Sunday

A $2.97 million Suffolk County project to repave Nicolls Road between Middle Country Road and Nesconset Highway will require nightly road closures, a county official said Tuesday.

Beginning the evening of Sunday, Aug. 25, detours will take drivers off Nicolls Road between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday nights in the area of Centereach and South Setauket.

Jim Peterman, assistant to Suffolk County's chief engineer, said the work is expected to last until Sept. 23. First, the northbound lanes will have closures five nights per week until Sept. 8; then, he said, the southbound lanes will have closures between Sept. 9 through Sept. 23. Milling will take place first, followed by repaving.

"Anything that requires a lane closure ... that work is going to be done at night," Peterman said.

No work will be performed between Friday, Aug. 30, and Monday, Sept. 2, for Labor Day weekend.

A separate project at Pond Path is currently under way "to increase the turning capacity on Nicolls Road ... because there was a backup there," Peterman said.

Separate projects are also scheduled at the intersections of Nicolls Road and Mark Tree Road, Hawkins Road and Hammond Road. Peterman said the current project will exclude paving at those intersections until that work begins in the spring of 2014.