With the permanent Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino underway and scheduled to open in mid-2010, will the casino complex be an island unto itself or tied to other planned development at the foot of Main, downtown and the city? Would a light rail loop through the Cobblestone area help?
A citizens’ group is determined to make a case for extending Metro Rail through the Cobblestone District. The Citizens Regional Transit Corporation (CRTC) is raising funds to retain a consultant to look at the feasibility, benefits and costs of a 1.2 mile extension to the Main Street light rail line.
As proposed by the CRTC, the Cobblestone District extension of Metro Rail would be a 1.2 mile loop, traveling east on South Park Avenue, north on Louisiana Street and west on Perry Street.
Map by George Thomas Apfel
CRTC’s goal is to raise $10,000 to fund a feasibility study by Stone Consulting & Design, Inc., a firm that specializes in planning public transit expansions. A citizen’s group undertaking a feasibility study for a mass transit project is highly unusual.
“Because the NFTA is a government agency, they are somewhat limited in their ability to move quickly on planning items. Doing this project via private or non-profit initiative significantly shortens the timeframe for beginning the planning process," says Seth Triggs, CRTC Vice President. “For example, this obviates the need to submit three bids from three different consultants which would almost certainly bring the cost up significantly. In essence, we are priming the pump and gathering interest and energy to get this project moving.”
Stone Consulting will visit Buffalo to obtain input from stakeholders, determine if other route locations should be included in the study, recommend a final route, identify issues involved in connecting with the existing Metro Rail, provide rider estimates, determine construction costs, provide an operating budget, identify funding sources, and present a final report. Once begun, the study is expected to take 90 days to complete.
“We have made significant progress on our fundraising drive, having now received well over 40 percent of our goal to begin the feasibility study,” says Triggs.
The Buffalo City Council is on record supporting the extension. Councilmember Brian Davis, who sponsored the resolution, said the extension could help spur development in the area which is seeing increased investment but is still mostly surface parking lots. Bass Pro, Canalside, and the casino represent hundreds of millions of dollars of proposed or underway development.
“Expanding to the Cobblestone district will put a new focus out there,” Davis said. “To be able to move folks into that neighborhood will create the potential for new development.”
Light rail has not proven to be an effective economic development tool in Buffalo however. Other questions remain. Is the NFTA even willing to look at the expansion issue? Will casino patrons have any interest in activities outside the gambling complex and use light rail for access? Is a loop the way to go or is a spur that could be extended to the Larkin District, the airport or southtowns a better option? Will the public have any say where the local share of casino revenues are spent and is light rail expansion a funding priority for a community with many pressing needs? The CRTC is anxious to start seeking answers.
Get connected: CRTC email.
Entry image by Matt Shaver