Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - Another step toward the massive and costly project that would see about a mile-long section of the Kensington Expressway become a tunnel with word Friday that Buffalo is in receipt of $55 million in federal funding for the project through the Reconnecting Communities Program.
The project, announced in 2022, is aimed at reconnecting the community separated by the expressway a generation ago and makes Buffalo among the first communities to receive such funding.
“Buffalo will be among the first in the nation to tap the Bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Law’s historic Reconnecting Communities Program to jumpstart the effort to reconnect Buffalo neighborhoods torn apart by the Kensington Expressway," stated Senator Chuck Schumer. “The transformation of the divisive Kensington Expressway will be a game changer for Buffalo, which thanks to the local hire provisions we fought to secure in the Bipartisan Infrastructure law, will also help bring new good-paying construction jobs for residents building the future of the community."
The project calls for a 6-lane tunnel extending from under Dodge Street to Sydney Street. Above ground, Humboldt Parkway would be redesigned not just for cars but for pedestrians and bicyclists with traffic-calming measures, crosswalks, bicycle lanes, and pedestrian and bicycle signals. It would also include a tree-lined walkable linear park in the median with Victorian gardens, sidewalks, and benches, connecting it with the adjacent Martin Luther King Jr. Park.
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"Nearly $56 million for the Kensington Expressway to right a historic wrong," Rep. Brian Higgins tells WBEN. The funding is a key component of the project, says Higgins. "Already, the State of New York has committed up to a billion dollars, with a 'b', and 80 percent of that money comes from the federal government."
"This investment will improve the quality of life in our growing city," stated Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. "I look forward to collaborating further with my partners in Federal and State government to see the completion of this project.”