Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - As a State Judge heard arguments this week on whether to allow New York to resume preparations for the $1 billion Kensington Expressway project, one opponent believes the project has to be done right. He also feels the state's environmental study did not do enough.
"What we want is the right project," says Terry Robinson of the East Side Parkways Coalition. "We want a project there because there's a problem with the 33, but what we absolutely do want is the stop of the tunnel project."
Robinson feels Judge Emilio Colaiacovo ruled there wasn't an adequate environmental study done for the project. He says he's not trying to get ahead of the environmental review process.
"There's a legal process that, if they follow it, we believe will result in them abandoning the tunnel project," Robinson added.
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Colaiacovo also heard arguments Monday on whether to extend his temporary restraining order preventing the state from working on the project.
"The reason he said there were questions with the environmental review process was that it wasn't adequate for a $1 billion, five-year construction project through a residential neighborhood, to assume there was absolutely no short-term or long-term impacts," Robinson said.
Robinson says such a study is more than just the environmental component of the project.
"The environmental review is a balance between the economic, the social, the transportation, all of the different things that have to go in looking at a project," he explains. "If you balance it against other pragmatic decisions, you look at what is the environmental harm, you look at what can be done to mitigate any environmental harm. Or is it an environmental benefit? Is it a social benefit? Is it an economic development benefit? All of that stuff just gets put on the table in a fair way, and you look at it, and then you make a call."
A ruling from Colaiacovo is expected in the next 60 days.