Don't Pay Attention To The City Behind The Barrels

Well thank you for writing this article. Im so glad that there are civic minded Buffalonians who care about our city from the perspective of visitors and tourists.

If we can raise the experience of our visitors then we can raise the quality of life for our residents. Unfortunately those who control traffic are not interested in branding/marketing our city or putting traffic on side streets where local businesses can profit.

If you drive on any major expressway right next to the exit sign you see symbols for gas, hotel, food, etc.

Driving along the Kensington we see Jefferson and Best but I dont see signs for Buffalo Science Museum, City Honors, Humboldt (Kings) Park, easten entrance to Life Sciences, Roswell, Buffalo General, Kaleida, etc.

Driving along the Scajaquada I dont see signs for Canada, Niagara Expressway, Historical Museum, Grand Island, City Center, Allentown, Albright Knox, Burchfield Penny, Buffalo State, Canisius, Medaille, Sisters Hospital, etc.

Driving along I-190 I dont see signs for Hydrolics, Larkin, Cobblestone District, ECC, Baseball, Hockey, Aerospace Museum, Canalside, Air&Naval Museum, Lower Lakes Museum, Transportation Museum, etc.

From a visitors point of view there is absolutely nothing that will ruin the impression of a city more than these three things:
1) getting a parking / traffic ticket or being a victim of crime
2) getting lost
3) a dirty, poorly maintained, poorly mannered, visibly ugly area.

Perhaps we can come up with signage that is more descriptive and attractive.

The problem, John Q, is exactly your phrase "driving along." You know what really "ruins the impression of a city"? It is that there is nothing worth getting out of a car to see. Put up all the signs you want. Buffalo cannot, should not be a car experience. Pathetic!

And, Queenseyes, you strike me more and more as a total moron.

I totally understand the need for better signage. Hell I was in Guelph, ON this weekend. It's only a city of 100,000 and they had a really nice sign attached to a stone bridge that simply said, "Downtown Guelph". And when I drove through there areas where pedestrian traffic is preferred, they had really great signs directing me where to park. I appreciate something like that when I'm unfamiliar with an area. That and I was thinking the same thing about the crappy pylons when I came back over the border on Sunday.

And to Queenie, I would love to get out of my car to walk and see stuff, so long as there's proper sign-age to find the stuff I want to see.

There's gotta be signs better than the Green and White NYSDOT signs we're used to. It's unappealing. They need to stick out as attractions, not just your average exit.

I also agree with Queenseyes on this. The city or maybe the CVB need to step up their game a little to try and make some really simple but functional additions to our city. I was in downtown last week for just about 2 hours and counted close to 10 tourists. A dutch fellow even tried to buy the recipe of one of Spot Coffee's cakes. Making it easy, attractive and comprehensible to access and use our city will only bring more people back, as the tourists who do come here will have an easier time to get around, and spend their money. It isn't brain surgery but does mean you need to design for something other than a car... which is where it falls apart...

About QE's signage complaints at the Peace Bridge, I don't know what he'd want the signs there to say and where to point. It's obvious from the skyline which direction downtown is, so a sign for that seems unneeded.

What streets would signs point to for Elmwood Village or Allentown from the bridge? Porter, then along North, then left on Elmwood? I suppose that could work. Then again, are EV and Allentown more deserving compared to other districts? Should the PB exit area also have signs pointing to Hertel? South Buffalo? Broadway-Fillmore? Black Rock? Hamlin Park? Univ Heights? Lovejoy? Sounds like a lot of signs for drivers to read as they drive through.

With growing use of GPS, need for signs is decreasing anyway. I don't think there's any signs at the PB directing people to Galleria and Blvd Mall, yet they seem to find them.

Maybe instead of more signs, a welcome center staffed at peak crossing hours to hand out brochures, etc. would be a better idea. If the plaza isn't big enough for one, maybe an expansion could be considered.

I came back from Ft. Erie Saturday and I assumed it was a temporary setup for construction or something. I agree with Queenseyes. This gives a bad impression of the entry to the city. Signage is awful here and visitors must get very frustrated. I've found better wayfinding in cities in Europe with languages I don’t know better than we have here in Buffalo.

I also agree with the point that since the Peace Bridge only encourages one to quickly move north or south onto the 190, where’s the benefit to Buffalo? Isn’t a new bridge/plaza only going to move people through even faster? Isn’t this just being treated as a big highway interchange whose goal is to move cars as quickly as possible through and out? If nobody stops in Buffalo, then why do we care if there’s a bridge at all?

The entire layout and setup at the US customs at the Peace Bridge is a joke.

Those barriers do not improve traffic flow, they actually cause more problems. Who is running that operation?

The Canadian side customs is run efficiently and it looks great

I agree. If the Peace Bridge is being promoted as an economic benefit to the city of Buffalo, and worthy of demolishing neighborhoods for its expansion, then the Peace Bridge should at least help direct traffic INTO the city and not just route people AROUND the city.

routing local traffic to the shopping and entertainment districts en masse via Porter Avenue (a mostly-residential street) is just plain BAD PLANNING. I realize that it got that way because of the 190-S exit and the Peace Bridge but, isn't this really good reason to have an urban PLANNER tell the DOT what we want/need, rather than the other way around? If the Porter Ave exit was returned back to Niagara Street, we'd have safer bike access to the parks and bikepath at the foot of Porter and destination traffic could be routed onto the commercial streets that NEED it! Like Connecticut, Niagara, Amherst, etc.