Updated Project Information: The City of
Buffalo will post current Preliminary Engineering
Information on their website including design
products and Advisory Committee minutes. Click
here to open the City Cars Sharing Main Street
WebPage in another window.

Preliminary Design: Buffalo Place Inc. is pleased
to be working with the City of Buffalo and NFTA to
return vehicular traffic to Main Street in Downtown
Buffalo. In 2005, the City awarded a contract to
DiDonato Associates for the Preliminary Engineering
Design work. NFTA and Buffalo Place are working with the City as project sponsors. DiDonato Associates, located in the 600 block of Main Street, created a consultant team including: Foit-Albert Associates, from the 700 block of Main Street, URS Corporation, also located in Downtown Buffalo and Mathews Nielsen, a landscape architecture firm with several years of experience on the Erie Canal Harbor project. This ten month project will determine how automobiles will be integrated onto Main Street between Edward/Goodell and HSBC Arena.

The Preliminary Engineering Design phase includes the design and location of the Metro Rail stations, the design of an attractive pedestrian-scale streetscape, how traffic signals and curb parking spaces will be incorporated and coordinate with developments in lower Main Street. The consultants have collected base information, completed an engineering survey, designed a computerized traffic model to forecast vehicle and Metro Rail car behavior, and developed concepts for redesigned Metro Rail Stations and the streetscape. Final design of the first phase of construction, the Theatre District, will start in 2007.

Capital Funding: The New York State legislature approved an $8 million appropriation for the lower Main Street phase of construction expected to occur in 2008. Buffalo Place is most appreciative of the efforts of our State Assemblymen and Senators.

Thank you to our Western New York Federal Delegation for securing $6 million to build the first construction phase in the Theatre District. The City of Buffalo is working hard to accomplish the goal of starting this construction next year. Buffalo Place would especially like to thank Congressman Brian Higgins for securing $4 million and Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer for contributing an additional $2 million. Over the next few years, the Western New York community will have to work together with our State and Federal officials to obtain funding to complete construction.

Environmental Review: The environmental review of the Main Street Multi-Modal Access and Revitalization Project under SEQRA was completed in early 2003. Buffalo Place participated as a project sponsor with the City of Buffalo, NFTA, Erie County, The New York State Department of Transportation and the GBNRTC. A preferred alternative was selected following the previous year of detailed consideration of alternatives and their impacts on the economic and environmental health of Downtown. The Downtown community was involved through numerous public meetings, web postings, email status reports and review by Downtown advocacy organizations. Buffalo Place was involved with outreach to property and tenant contacts as well as Downtown community advocates.

The preferred alternative is for vehicular traffic to share the trainway with Metro Rail. Sufficient sidewalk width (20-26’) remains to retain the landscaping, benches and amenities that make Main Street a “Pedestrian Street” but the scale can be reduced to a more comfortable level. Two lanes of vehicular traffic, narrowed Metro Rail stations and 150 curb parking spaces will add vitality during those off-peak hours that now appear desolate due to excessively wide sidewalks. ERM Associates, the Environmental Review consultant, determined significant economic benefit from increased accessibility and visibility of Main Street properties.

The City of Buffalo, as the lead agency for the State Environmental Review Process, made the official determination of “No Significant Impact.” A four-year implementation schedule developed with preliminary engineering design for the length of the transit mall to be done in the first year, followed by three phases of construction, per available funding. One of the major conclusions is that each construction phase must be completed during one construction season so that businesses are not unnecessarily impacted.

Federal Environmental Review under NEPA is being conducted by the Federal Transit Administration and is ongoing.

Current work on Returning Vehicular Traffic to Main Street is the preliminary engineering design between Edward and Scott Streets. Funding for this work was provided by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), thanks to an allocation by former Congressman Jack Quinn, NYS DOT, the City and NFTA. The goal is for design and construction of the first phase, the Theatre District, to follow the next year. Buffalo Place will inform our constituents of the status of the project, request advocacy for funding when needed and work to communicate design and construction issues.