NIAGARA FALLS: Buffalo Avenue project moving forward

Local News

March 6, 2008

Work could begin next spring

By Dan Miner/minerd@gnnewspaper.com The Niagara Gazette Thu Mar 06, 2008, 08:00 PM EST

Buffalo Avenue’s numerous potholes, broken curbs and non-existent traffic lines could soon be fixed, possibly beginning next spring.

A comprehensive $12.6 million project — paid for mostly by federal funds — to reconstruct the dilapidated street’s numerous problems from 10th Street to the I-190 is moving along. If all goes well, consultants say the project will receive final state approval by December and the city can immediately put it out for bid.

“There’s no argument at all from anybody that this project is needed,” said Frank DelSignore, a partner with Buffalo-based Clough Harbour and Associates, which was hired by the city to do the project’s surveying, design and construction supervision. “It has needed to be redone for a long time.”

The project could take as long as two years once construction begins, DelSignore said. Curbs, sidewalks and the street’s severely cracked pavement will be fixed and its old, deteriorated drainage system will be improved.

A Thursday informational meeting at City Hall was held on the project, giving residents and business owners a chance to voice their opinions, which the city will then take into account when formalizing the final plan.

The project will be funded 80 percent by the federal government, 15 percent by the state and 5 percent by the city.

The project will be done in two phases, starting with the southern, eastbound lane and moving to the other lane. In the second phase, traffic moving out of the city will be diverted up Veterans Drive to Packard Road and eventually Niagara Falls Boulevard. Local traffic will still be able to use the road.

“It’s going to be a great help to the whole area,” said Ron Anderluh, a coordinator with the Niagara Street Area Business and Professional Association. “(The road) is really rough.”

Anderluh also chairs the commission working on another plan for the street, the Buffalo Avenue Industrial Corridor plan. That plan includes buying and cleaning up the numerous brownfields in the area, extending the LaSalle Expressway to Hyde Park Boulevard and a series of other projects. It is likely a long-term endeavor and will not coincide with the current street project.

“I just hope people work together so they don’t duplicate services,” Anderluh said.

Once done, the current project will likely take care of the street for the next several decades.