Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The $1 billion dollars Governor Kathy Hochul allocated for the Kensington Expressway project is still in the conceptual stage as the Kensington project team and New York State's Department of Transportation reached out to the community Thursday for feedback as well as to answer any questions Buffalo residents have about the project.
There are still a lot of questions as to what this project will look like. According to the project website, there are ten concepts the Kensington team is considering, ranging from no build to demolishing the N.Y. Rt. 33, however the most discussed concept is the Kensington reconstruction with a 6-lane tunnel for improved community connections with a tree-lined setting.
"We have the concept laid out. As of now, based on the historical input that we have received, the full cover is being proposed as a response and actually taking into consideration the comments we have received. The details of where the ventilation takes place, that's all going to be worked out in coordination and communication with the community as we develop greater detail. We're at the conceptual stage, we're presenting what we have looked at but as we move forward and we narrow the alternatives, all of that details will be presented and analyzed," said Nicolas Choubah, Chief Engineer for New York State's Department of Transportation.
The community reaction has been generally positive, but some have voiced concerns with the project, such as ventilation and the air quality.
"The concepts with the tunnel, I believe that those are viable concepts, but they cannot tell us the percentage of pollution that will be extracted out where that it won't be continually contaminating the East Side. I think when can get more accurate calculations, that will be more fair to the residents to see if this is a susceptible product to restore our community," said Pastor Dwayne Jones.
"My concerns is the maintenance costs after building the tunnel, this is gonna be about 5 million a year," said Damareo Jones, a Buffalo resident who lives off of Bailey Ave. "I would rather see the billion dollars go towards rebuilding homes here on the East Side."
"My main concern is ventilation, I mean, the air ventilation for option #2, if you pick that, then you can disperse some residents. These are the residents who have stayed there through redlining. These are the residents who have kept the community together and I think it would be unfair for them not to reap the benefits of them being there and have to get smoothed out through eminent domain," said Demario Badger, a resident of Humboldt Parkway. "I think not only will it just connect the community, it will bring beauty back to the neighborhood, an area that has been neglected for far too long. So yes, I think it's important in more ways than just uniting a community I think it'll bring a sense of worth and a sense of enjoyment back to a community that was torn apart when he put the expressway there in the first place."
More coverage including potential times of commencing construction will be released shortly.
To listen to the full interviews of the publics and the remarks of the Department of Transportation, see the players below:
