Have those responsible for deciding how to spend billions of dollars for transportation ever driven through the congested Oakdale Merge? Or taken a slow, smelly diesel train? Or navigated the narrow lanes or twisting curves on any of Long Island's state parkways?

If they had, they'd know better than to overlook these trouble spots.

Planning for five years of future Long Island road and rail improvements rests primarily on a 329-page document awaiting final approval next month.

But that Transportation Improvement Program, as it is known, omits at least a dozen critical local projects, including upgrades of the Oakdale Merge, Sagtikos Parkway and Meadowbrook Parkway and electrification of the Long Island Rail Road's eastern branches.

Now it's up to Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman

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