Buffalo, NY (WBEN) It's an aggressive project by any stretch but it's moving forward with an environmental review following a weekend announcement by New York Governor Kathy Hochul pushing to partially cover the Kensington Expressway in an effort to reunite neighborhoods separated by the original expressway decades ago.
The engineering project to cover the expressway and reconnect two neighborhoods as one along the expressway near Best and East Ferry Streets is one that experts compare to a similar one that turned out to be a success.
The Kensington, Route 33, carved through the historic Humboldt Parkway, dividing the parkway and placing a barrier between communities in the form of an expressway.
UB's Anthony Tessari says this is an interesting project. "We're taking some existing infrastructure and essentially putting it under ground and covering it up, and there are some engineering solution in making this possible," says Tessari. "We have to consider things like ventilation to deal with car fumes or if there's a fire to allow the smoke to escape."
Tessari says there can be temporary measures in place, and there will be work that will require temporary workarounds, including traffic detours.
Tessari compares this project to Boston's Big Dig, which he says was a success. "It was worth it. It relinked two parts of the city that were separated by a highway system. It gave the city a more cohesive feel," says Tessari.
He says the same benefits could come to Buffalo. "I see the potential here where you're relinking two neighborhoods separated by the 33, and I just see a lot of these economic benefits of bringing the two communities back together," says Tessari.
Constructed during the 1950s and 1960s, the Kensington Expressway replaced what had been a tree-lined Humboldt Parkway designed by Frederick Law Olmsted with a below-grade highway that severed the connection between the surrounding neighborhoods. The original boulevard connected Humboldt Park (now Martin Luther King, Jr. Park) with Delaware Park.
