RIVERHEAD - Suffolk County Executive Steven Levy has fast-tracked funding to address the traffic bottleneck on eastbound County Road 58 in Riverhead – combining the two planned phases of the project into a single phase.

According to the County Executive, work on the $11.5 million project – which will provide for two eastbound lanes and a center turning lane from a point just west of Osborne Avenue up to the Roanoke Avenue and replacing the single lane traffic circle with a two-lane roundabout -- is to begin in the fall of 2009.

Levy will be submitting an amendment to the Capital Budget shortly that will advance funding for the planned second phase of the project into the initial phase, and allow the county to save approximately $1 million through economies of scale.

“This plan will allow us to quickly and cost-effectively address the traffic congestion along County Road 58 – The gateway to the North Fork -- without having to wait for federal transportation dollars and without bearing the cost of land acquisition,” said Levy.

Levy said the plan will be built along existing right-of-ways, following a similar, widely-applauded approach used on County Road 39 on the South Fork.

While the work was initially planned as a two-phase project, Levy said that money will be offset into the CR58 project from another project that has experienced permitting delays.