BUFFALO (WBEN) - Late last week, federal, state and local officials gathered in support of prioritizing an infrastructure project that would cover the Kensington Expressway between Best Street and East Ferry Street.
"The American Jobs Plan is setting aside $20 billion for programming specifically designed to reconnect communities (that have been) cut in half by historical injustices just like," said State Senator Tim Kennedy, who also serves as chair of the state's Transportation Committee.
Local officials have identified several major infrastructure projects that are deemed as priorities, including the removal of the Skyway and the reconfiguration of the Scajaquada Expressway.
So, why has the 33 project risen to the very top of the priority list?
"We are a community that does have multiple priorities, and there's nothing to be ashamed about that - we need help, and we should be getting it from the federal level of government because that's where they have the most resources, and the state should also be doing its part," said State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes.
"When you look at the three areas of priorities and weigh out the impacts on the communities that are immediately around them, you see more of an impact here because there's not a lot of people that live around Scajaquada, and there's not a lot of people that live around the Skyway," she continued. "But there are a ton of people who still live around here and suffer the results from 70,000 cars going by every day."
As recently as a few weeks ago, Kennedy and Congressman Brian Higgins were banging on the drum to tear down the Skyway, but they have since backed off their stance, saying the Skyway will come down in the next 10-15 years, and they're now placing the 33 redesign at the top of the list.
"This project is exclusive; this project has its own narrative; this project has its own history, and this project has its own injustice," said Higgins. "When you have a federal government that recognizes, nationally, that communities have been hurt by expressway building, there's no better national example than this one."
