Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Several new ideas for light rail expansion in Buffalo were presented to the Buffalo community Wednesday evening.
The proposals, developed by the University at Buffalo Small Built Works Program in conjunction with Citizens for Regional Transit, offers three new transit lines with stations that will connect the city's Central Business District, and the Buffalo airport.
"The idea is to come up with a future for the City of Buffalo," says James Gordon with Citizens for Regional Transit (CRT)
"If you if you ever drive on the 290, you know it backs up when you're getting to the 33 by the 'Big Blue Water Tower,' and the state is studying that corridor now. We see this line directly in between and servicing the central business district, Buffalo's East Side, the Central Terminal, all of these various locations out to the airport. We see 100,000 cars on the 33. We see 100,000 cars on the 190. That's 200,000 cars a day going back and forth in this corridor. Maybe some people might want to take some other way that doesn't pollute, doesn't produce greenhouse gas emissions, doesn't produce any microplastic emissions, and is extremely cost effective."
This most promising line workshopped is what they refer to as the "Airport Line," which will run from the Central Business District to the Buffalo airport, serving the Main Street corridor, Larkinville, Walden Galleria Mall, Central Terminal, the Buffalo-Niagara International Airport and Transit Road in Lancaster.
"People say, 'Why do you go all the way out to Transit Road?' It's actually a practical thing. You have to have a place to park the trains and queue them up. So there's room out there, and that's why we decided to do that. Plus, we know there's hotel space desperately needed out in that area," notes Gordon.
CRT President Doug Funke notes that this particular line has been on the radar of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority since the 1970s.
"That's the first one that would be done."
The second proposal, the “Belt Line," will run along the existing railroad corridor that circles the city, connecting neighborhoods, universities, hospitals, cultural attractions and run right next to the Northland Workforce Training Center.
"It's a very old line. It used to be passenger rail. And there are a lot of people who remember that and would like to see that resurrected. And it seems like now's a good time to just talk about that and see if that's something we want to do," said Gordon.
The third is the Kensington Line, which will run from the “Belt Line” to the airport, serving ECMC, the Olmsted at Kensington High School, the Martha Mitchell Community Center, and the Buffalo-Niagara Airport. It will serve the Trinidad/Humboldt neighborhood along the current alignment of the Kensington Expressway.
The team at Citizens for Regional Transit are looking for feedback from the community, UB's Small Work Program Architecture Professor Brad Wales notes that these are projects that could take upwards of two decades, which is why there is no time like right now for the community to engage with their thoughts on these proposals, as they continue to be modified and as more students continue to add more stations and build upon their ideas.
"We're going to get feedback from everybody all summer long. We want to hear what ideas they have. We heard tonight from one guy who's a railroad guy. He knows a lot about railroads. So we want to get that guy's opinion. We want to get it all integrated. And as you heard, the students have feedback from the Town of Cheektowaga Planner, they have feedback from the Town of Lancaster Planner, they also had feedback from the city planner for Buffalo. They've been getting advice from lots and lots of places. And it's been working out extremely well in that class, these kids are amazing," added Gordon.
Both Gordon and Funke note that there are a lot of exciting projects going on right now for the NFTA, including being in the process of conducting an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate potential benefits and impacts to expand the Metro Rail system to UB's North Campus in Amherst, refurbishing stations as well as replacing track and catenary.
"They're doing a lot. And so yeah, we're very optimistic," said Gordon.
Local News
