The City of Buffalo has released a street closure map of Saturday’s Gates Circle building demolition. The tallest section of the building will be detonated at 7am, October 3.
The map also shows the traffic pattern change and the official safety zone, which was outlined to keep curious spectators safe from harm’s way.
“The attached [is a] revised map of the affected traffic areas for Saturday’s implosion. It pin-points the exact location of the public viewing area.”
“The former Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital building has been a landmark in Buffalo for over 100 years, with hundreds of memories still alive in the hearts of many of our residents,” said Mayor Brown. “This weekend, we look toward the future and will make way for continued progress in Buffalo with an implosion that will mark the start of an exciting milestone in the physical transformation of the former Millard Fillmore Gates Hospital site into a new $150 million multi-phased mixed-use complex.”
“We’re going to open up the site and bring together residents from adjacent neighborhoods, all while creating attractive new public spaces,” said TM Montante Development president Christian Campos. “This is a critical and exciting milestone in the site’s physical transformation into a vibrant mixed-use urban district.”
*Buffalo Police Department officials announced that beginning at 3 a.m. on Saturday, October 3rd, Delaware Avenue at Ferry Street will be closed to Gates Circle. Ferry Street will remain open. North bound traffic on Delaware will detour onto Ferry Street, proceeding east to Main Street or west to Elmwood Avenue. Access will be provided to residents and business personnel when possible. Police will start closing the following streets in and around the Gates Circle area beginning at 3 a.m. on October 3rd. A complete restriction of area traffic will be in place, prior to 6 a.m. Streets will re-open when deemed safe by officials.Delaware Avenue at Delavan Avenue. South bound traffic on Delaware Ave. will detour on to Delavan Ave. proceeding east to Main St. or west to Elmwood Avenue. Access provided for residents and business personnel when possible.
- Cleveland Ave./Auburn Ave./Lancaster Ave./Lafayette Ave. east of Elmwood Ave.
- Chapin Parkway east of Delavan Ave.
- Lafayette Ave. west of Linwood Ave.
- Linwood Ave (one way street) at Balcom Street. North bound traffic on Linwood Ave. will detour on to Balcom St. east bound to Main Street.
- Balcom St. will be converted from a one way street west of Main St. into a two way street, from Main St. to Linwood Ave.
Beginning at 6 a.m. the Buffalo Police Department will set up a hard perimeter area at which time people will not be allowed to enter or leave until after the site is deemed safe. For public safety reasons, residents are encouraged to watch the implosion at home on television, but a public viewing area will be set up at Delaware Avenue north up to West Delavan Avenue.
“This will be a systematic and safe, but dramatic moment as we work to get the site ready for new development in 2016,” said Doug Elia, President of Montante Construction.
After the implosion, orchestrated by OSC, crews will water the grounds and then begin the process of cleanup, which will take weeks.
“We thank Mayor Byron Brown, the city of Buffalo and in particular the surrounding neighborhood for their assistance and cooperation as we work towards making this site shovel ready,” said Thomas Montante, Chief Executive Officer of the Montante Group. “We’ve worked closely with the community throughout all phases of our development of the Gates Circle site and look forward to continued input from all of the stakeholders involved in this transformative economic development project for Buffalo.”