Almost as soon as the pavement markings dried at the brand new construction of the bridges at Community Drive and Lakeville Road at the Long Island Expressway (LIE), the complaints about the lane configurations grew from grumbles to growls. Lake Success Mayor Robert Bernstein alerted the peninsula's other mayors of the problem through the Village Officials Association, and Police Chief William Roberts documented the accidents and near-misses that occurred as drivers swerved and swore at the traffic. (Great Neck Record, February 8, 2001, LIE Lane Logistics Are Lambasted).

The mayor and the chief led an organized effort over the course of many months to persuade the New York Department of Transportation to take another look at the traffic flow in the area. The department's regional design engineer, Joseph G. Scariza, wrote Mayor Bernstein a letter, dated June 7, 2001, to inform him that after further studies, the DOT will "be able to modify the southbound lane configurations under the Lakeville Road bridge to provide two (2) through lanes and one left turn lane."

Currently, there are two southbound lanes on Lakeville Road that are "left only" lanes heading east and one straight bound lane.The change will not go into effect until the end of the year because the NYDOT will need to re-stripe and widen Lakeville Road north of the North Service Road in order to increase the available "storage capacity" at the intersection. Storage capacity refers to the number of cars that can line up to wait for a signal change.

Both Mayor Bernstein and Chief Roberts expressed their gratitude to the local citizens who encouraged them to persevere, and to the DOT for cutting through the bureaucratic red tape involved in making this alteration.