Tree Lined 700 block of Main Street?
Submission by Lauren J - 700-block resident.
Construction started today on the 700 block of Main Street. The start date has been pushed back so many times that I began to get my hopes up that they wouldn't do it this summer. I'm not principally against returning traffic to Main St., but living on the 700 block myself, I really appreciate the quiet of the one-way street and pedestrian mall.
It is troublesome that the first day of construction they cut down all the trees on one side of the street. It's a beautiful tree-lined road now, and I hope they plan to replant the trees they cut down with something more substantial than saplings. Here are some pictures comparing the barren side to the remaining tree-lined side.
Click here to see the plans for a new tree-lined Main Street.
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Comment Options
galaxyjay
Greenery hurts nothing.
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WCPerspective
Ahh- the price of progress.
According to Buffalo Place, the west side of the block is being done first, then the east. Most work will be completed by winter. In the spring, crews will return to plant new trees and put a final binder course on the street.
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comptart_lws
it's unclear: are they widening the street? why did the trees have to come down? where the in the way????? seriously. it's not clear in the article.
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Texpat10
You want your two way traffic and cars back on Main Street so you lose your trees. Personally I'd rather have the trees. They are what made this block more inviting than the others around it. The two way traffic wasn't needed. When was the last time you saw a traffic jam around here? People, not traffic, make an area vital. People are drawn to inviting places. Inviting places have trees, grass and greenery. Do people make plans to hang in parking lots? No; they go to parks.
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sbrof
I thought the WHOLE POINT of the plan in place was to now widen the street... which means that these trees did not need to come down..
This is probably nothing more than the contractor trying to get a little extra dough for selling the wood. Are they going to do this for all the main. ugh this is horrible....
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Rebecca
I worked at the FTA headquarters this summer and they were laughing at us for going in the complete opposite direction of the rest of the country. We're the only ones screaming, "more cars! " while everyone else is scrambling to get more mass transit downtown.
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onestarmartin
how sad, that stretch was quaint, now it looks like the rest of main...pathetic
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jamesbflo
Updated update from Buffalo Place: The trees were not London Planes.
so that makes it right? what a joke.
The draw of that block was that it was cozy and quiet. What a slap in the face to all of the people who invested there in recent years.
Go ahead and chop down all of the trees along Main, bring cars back. In 10 years when it still doesnt work maybe we can throw some more money at another irrational solution that won't work either. How about focusing on getting 20,000 ppl to move down, then focusing on the infrastructure to accomodate them - if people are even driving anymore.
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sbrof
it is one short sighted step in a short sighted project.. Does anyone think that cutting trees down to go ahead and replant them is a little counter productive. You can't tell me that there was no way to design the roadway that didn't interfere with these trees...
AHh it makes me want to scream, this illogical 'progress.' We will have a nice new road in 10 years when the project is done and by then the shape of transportation will have changed. There is little to no foresight in politics around here. Demolition = Progress. Building roads = progress chopping down tree = progress...
Rebecca was right this whole project + rebuilding our waterfront highway is going to recreate us as the laughing stock of the country. At least when these were built they were a part of larger movements... today it i just insanity. Somehow THIS TIME.. building the same thing over again will produce different results.
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TranspoGuy
That is such a Buffalo Place answer to say "They were not London Planes" Good point James
As if the city isn't under-treed already after the October storm. Buffalo Place is probably sitting back thinking "If we take out the trees, maybe we can get a non-profit (ReTree WNY) to do it for us!"
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crisa
The original reason for the existance at all of the Metro Rail at the heart of this City was to transport people back and forth betwixt the City and the farthest suburbs. There was supposed to be highways leading in and out. (We know people who stayed in the city and suburbs because they thought the property their houses are on would be in the path of those roads and would equate a tidy settlement in right-of-ways!
The Metro Rail system was NOT intended for the exclusive use of city residents. It is NOT, not, not what it was intended to be.
About planting trees that are older and therefore fuller and more beautiful: The younger the tree the more likely it will firstmost be able to adapt so it can then grow to be mature and healthy, but, urban trees face challenges not found in the open country.
The very first growth of a tree is a one-stem seedling. (A seeding has to be incredibly hardy to survive anywhere except a greenhouse.) In its first year, that seedling quickly grows into just the trunk of a sapling. Each year thereafter, that little baby tree developes major branches. (One trunk and one branch means it is one year old; two branches means two years and so on until it has 3 or 4 main branches. Then it is a mature tree. (Some people mistake scrub "trees" as trees, but a scrub is a weed. If it has several "trunks" coming up from the ground and reaches maturity, it is a really big weed disquised as a tree!)
In an urban area, (and in groomed lawns) a tiny, inches high seedling wouldn't make it. Once a seedling tree is cut or stepped on, unlike other plants, it can't grow anymore. For the most part, after the first full year's growth, or in the second or third year of a tree's life, it will more likely survive over a mature tree because, just as children, the young trees can adapt themselves.
Planting big, beautiful full growth trees in urban areas isn't done. The measure of a tree's roots is the circum. of its branches. The bigger the tree the bigger its root system the greater its shock at being replanted and the more watering it needs until it finds its own supply. (Often, store owners water those grate-lined trees with nourishmentless chlorinated water. When planted in front of office building though, no one bothers.)
An urban sapling... A mature urban tree... One major reason they DO survive is because their roots found a source of water beyond a grated or bricked surface. (Their roots DO get into the sewers! Ugh!) (So then, is it OK with a tree if a dog or a guy pees on it???)
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buffalo339
the main article and the rant about trees might have been the two most confusing things I've read in a while. I feel like someone gave me half a story with a who and what but not a why how or where.
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crisa
Sorry! Please, first, click on the "click here" link. That explains that. Then, note that I don't rant; I never rant, I explain and explain as I exhaust those I am explaining to. I went on and on about trees because, someone in this topic wishfully wondered if newly planted trees could be fullly grown instant pleasure.
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manski
Well said buffalo339. Doesn't then plan call for re-treeing the street including in the median? And include bike lanes? I really am beginning to think that some of you people just like to post complaints about everything.
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ljo128
I'm the Lauren J--My appoligies that I didn't include more information. I sent this in as a quick e-mail not realizing it would be posted without more elaboration. I recently moved to this block and was dismayed when I learned about the planned construction. Seeing the trees come down yesterday was shocking, so I sent it in hoping to get a dialogue going.
Unfortunately I don't have any additional detail about the how or why, but as Crisa indicated, the "Click here" link explains that very well.
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buffaloweiner
Rebecca, I do believe that Buffalo is being laughed at as well.
What other city in the nation would not fight tooth and nail to get their hands on half a billion dollars in mass transit capital funds to extend our light rail.
Furthermore, its most definitely not just extending the light rail because as every burocrat and everyone in transportation knows....you can bundle in non-transportation projects if they have a transportation component
So a light rail could include a parknride, or renovation funds for the Central Terminal, or a housing component, or an urban retail component, etc etc etc.
Yes, Buffalo gets laughed at all the time because we have a golden goose and we wont let it produce any golden eggs.
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al-alo
ok. so we've lost the forest for the trees again.
let me recap: no one here knows why those trees were removed, correct?
so lets not all jump the gun and nash our teeth. these tree might have been located along a new or relocated utilities corridor, or the hardscape may have changed in a way that makes keeping them in the current location impossible or the location of the trees might of make it impossible to jockey heavy equipment around.
so lets all settle down. and they arent getting rich selling the wood. urban trees are not sought after for their lumber - too much danger of nails/wire/tacks.
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buffaloweiner
as far as downtown, every street within the city limits should have a tree and particularly in downtown
(especially urban parking lots)
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markasaurus
Depressing. I lived there for four years and loved those trees. Granted, ten years ago there wasn't much else to love on that block...
Hopefully it will be worth it in the end.
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BloCity
Looks like UB North
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sbrof
al-alo I have seen the plans in pretty close detail and I don't understand why these trees are being removed. It sounds like a waste because the plan does propose trees where these trees are...
The roadway configuration, last I knew, was two lanes, bike lanes and parking lanes + median needed a Roadway of 60 - which is the same as the current paved width. The only trees that might have been removed are any that would exist on the Bump out areas at the crosswalks. Other then that the plan shouldn't require the removal of the trees.
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sbrof
That being said these trees might have needed to come out to provide room for the roadway to split around the subway tunnel. But i wouldn't think the whole side needed removal just the area near Tupper.. I think they are just trying to clear them out and would definitely keep an eye out for the other side of the street.
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blackrocklifer
MORE TREES LESS BUSH
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ExWNYer
They should put in palm trees when they replant. It would look groovy and confuse out of towners.
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300miles
Looking at the rendering, it certainly looks like the new trees are going right where the current trees are. Has Buffalo Place or the City provided any answers?
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bfloghost
Rebecca-There were about 200 of these ped malls "built" in the 70's & 80's throughout the country & I believe approx ALL BUT 19 or so have been retro-fitted in some capacity to let cars back in. So I'm not sure who is laughing about this project but they are apparently ignorant of the facts.
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bfloghost
Actually I heard that on NPR but Bro had an article about it as well www.buffalorising.com/story/pedestrian_malls
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sonyactivision
^ Yeah, the pedestrian mall as it were, is going the way of the Dodo. This doesn't mean you can't build wonderful plazas and pedestrian-friendly spaces, but the weird paradigm of closing a major arterial for a pedestrian mall is just simply dead. The trees shouldn't have been cut down, but dug out and removed for later replanting. But that costs money, so they just replant with sad, struggling sapplings. bastards.
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mybuffalo
get out the typing machine grandma i'm gonna write a letter and complain to somebody about something!
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urbansoul
Man. #1 - Those trees made that block one of the best of all Main downtown. Even if they're replaced - the new ones will not be as mature #2 - They better plant a hell of a lot of trees, including in the median, to even attempt a re-greening #3 - I wish all of Main had as many trees as that block. Even though there are just 3 ppl on the block in the pic with the trees.....the street looks great. Now imagine just 3 ppl on the sidewalk of the 500 block withOUT the trees and it's an entirely different image!!!
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Joshua
All in the name of progress, again?
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300miles
From Today's News:
>
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300miles
(one more try...)
Late this week, crews removed about a dozen trees that lined the west side of the block, and utility crews began marking connections ahead of excavation work.
“Unfortunately, we had to remove the trees to do the project. And it was the assessment of the city forester that they wouldn’t survive transplanting,” Stepniak said.
Blueprints for the one-block re-configuration on Main Street call for the street bed to be straightened and widened, making room for one-lane each of northbound and southbound traffic, on-street parking and a tree-lined median. Excavation of the west side of the street will begin in the next week and move to the east side as the project progresses.
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