Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A freeze on the Kensington Expressway Project is putting over $1.2 billion in state and federal funds at risk.
New York State Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes say if the court stands with it's ruling, Buffalo could end up losing it all.
"That is a concern. As you know, a huge piece of it is coming from the state, but much of it also comes from the federal government. I feel like, from the state's perspective, that we can maybe hold it down until we get an opportunity to go ahead. I don't think we can hold it down if we don't get an opportunity to go to head go ahead, because, quite frankly, that's like another two or three years. I don't know if you can necessarily hold that that long," stated Peoples-Stokes in an interview with WBEN.
Peoples-Stokes says conversations with local congress people are already happening to protect the federal funds.
"I'm hopeful that the DOT as well as the State's Attorneys, will go back into court and ask them to appeal that decision, because honestly, the decision is important. I'm not going to discredit the importance of always looking at everything," explained Peoples-Stokes.
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If the state funding is lost, Peoples-Stokes says the money would then be recycle into other infrastructure projects across the state.
"There are a number of major highway pieces in other parts of the state. I know the Bronx, for one, is looking at the same sort of resources for a similar project, and so it could go there, or, you know, there's other places in the state where these resources could clearly be used. It's not like we live in an era when everybody's infrastructure is intact and in place and not impacting negatively on the people around who live around it," stated Peoples-Stokes.
However, co-founder of East Side Parkway Coalition Brad Wales argues this idea and says it's impossible to take the funding away, even if the project doesn't move forward.
"Reason being is that the DOT is so far behind in their maintenance of their retaining walls that the retaining walls need to be removed. They admit this themselves on page 14 of the final design report environmental assessment. Number one, concrete retaining walls. That's a short paragraph that ends in, 'therefore, the retaining walls need replacement,'" stated Wales.