Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - What will the Kensington Expressway look like 10 years from now?
There is no definitive answer.
It could be exactly as its stands today, serving as one of the many ways into and out of the City of Buffalo where more than 75,000 vehicles use on a daily basis.
Or, it could revert back to the original parkway design created by Frederick Law Olmsted. That design was cut up when the Kensington was constructed in the 1950s and early 1960s before it made its debut in 1964.
Or, it could be the controversial "tunnel" design opposed by so many.
That's why earlier this month the state Department of Transportation conducted its first "listening session" designed to garner the public's input regarding the Kensington's future.
A second listening session is set for Dec. 16, beginning at 5 p.m. at the Edward Saunders Community Center, 2777 Bailey Ave., Buffalo.
If the Dec. 2 session was any indication, more than 200 people attended. DOT officials expect many, if not more for the Dec. 16 session.
"This isn't a popularity contest," said Ryan Whalen, DOT regional spokesman. "But, we do want to hear from everybody."
During a Dec. 2 news conference DOT Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez said her agency has no preferred choice when it comes to the Kensington.
"Everything is on the table," Dominguez said.
While the Kensington stretches from downtown Buffalo to Genesee Street and the Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga, the true focus of the project is a portion of the expressway that begins at Oak Street in the central business district and runs to the I-198 interchange.
Dominguez said the DOT will be spend the next year hosting listening and discussion centers and then another two years or three years putting together a detailed environmental impact statement.
A final design and construction is at least five years - or, longer - away.
"Getting the public's input is critical to whatever future decision is made," Whalen said.