It’s a dream of many of ours. To see that nasty expressway that cuts through the heart of our city, our community, our parks… repaired in a manner that will help to heal Buffalo’s deep Robert Moses wounds. There will always be scars left behind, but we do have an opportunity to reverse some of the longterm damage done – or as Reclaiming Our Community Coalition (ROCC) puts it so well, “… to remediate the devastation and civic injustice caused by the construction of Route 33.”
The coverage of the expressway is anticipated to run between Best Street and East Ferry. The idea is to reconnect two parts of the city that were formerly joined together by the Olmsted Park System (Humboldt Parkway). The end result would see the return of the original tree scape, a bike lane, a travel lane, pedestrian scale lighting and original elevation. The parkway would, in essence, create parkland that would combine with the Museum of Science campus and extend outwards much the same as Lincoln Parkway acts as a promenade for the Museum District.
A project such as this would add immense value to all neighborhoods on either side of the covering. It would also go a long way towards mending the Olmsted parkway that once served to connect The Park (Delaware Park) to The Parade (MLK Park). At this point, Reclaiming Our Community Coalition is hoping that the community gets behind this critical project in order to secure funds to move this initiative forward. It was back in September when, at a Common Council meeting, inquiries were made as to the “status of millions of dollars that were supposedly allocated by NYSDOT to conduct a study of the feasibility of covering a portion of Route 33.”
ROCC is asking the community to email your thoughts and ideas so that the organization can continue to garner support for covering a critical section of the Kensington Expressway.