I told some people on another forum that i’d crosspost this.
On Saturday, September 13, we will hopefully begin to take back our city.
At approximately 10:00 AM we will stage a protest, which will begin in the Small Boat Harbor parking to fight the DOT plan to rebuild the Route 5 Expressway.
For 50 years, the elevated expressway has effectively cut off Buffalo from its waterfront. Cars simply “shoot” out of the city into the southtowns, without giving a second thought to the waterfront.
We have an opportunity to change that. We have an opportunity now in 2008 to restore and retake our waterfront land for 25, 50, 100 years and more! However, it won’t happen unless we act now!
The original DOT plan was to remove the elevated expressway and replace it with a four-lane parkway. Traffic studies proved that this would be a more than viable plan, as roads such as the 198 actually carry more traffic than route 5. The city of Buffalo also adopted this plan in order to allow for development.
See, 80 acres of land will be opened by removing Furhmann Boulevard and the route 5 expressway, and replacing the roads with one 4 lane parkway on the site of the current expressway. The DOT agreed to this plan.
However, that suddenly changed, and now the DOT has decided to essentially replace the expressway with, another expressway! There will be walls and berms blocking waterfront land. The DOT has refused to come to the table to explain its actions. The DOT has refused several requests to appear at Common Council meetings. They have now begun construction on a road that was not agreed upon by the city, in the hopes that we will just stand here and accept it.
It isn’t too late, however. Construction as it is now, if halted, could still accommodate the parkway plan, but we have to move quickly.
The City of Buffalo and the Riverkeeper have filed a lawsuit protesting the Expressway plan. The suit was filed on August 8, 2008.
You can see a video on the Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper’s complaint by going to: http://www.bnriverkeeper.org/Route 5…twns_Cnntr.htm.
We can still stop yet another waterfront mistake from occurring.
We CAN make a change in our city.
We CAN make a difference!
Rebuilding the route 5 will be the recreation of a 50 year old mistake. Just because a mistake is made once doesn’t mean we can or should make it again. Be there on Saturday, September 13, to help us stop this tragedy from happening all over again!
Make a difference, be an American, exercise your right to protest!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
10:00 AM
Small Boat Harbor Parking Lot
So they want to try and stop something that is already halfway contructed?
Perfect timing… :bloated:
I think what they are doing is great. There needs to be a fucking road to get to the damn waterfront. The new plan allows for easy access to the city and waterfront alike.
Let’s see, a 4 lane parkway with stoplights every 200 feet, none of which will be timed to keep traffic flowing since it’s Buffalo, or a raised limited access highway that is an efficient means for the masses of people who work in Buffalo but refuse to live there to get to and from work.
The skyway is here to stay. You would think that the 190 tolls and the main street trolly would have taught Buffalo the lesson that making your city less accessible to cars is a way to guarantee failure.
There is no reason you can’t have waterfront access and the skyway for commuters. If Buffalo ever does have a real revival you’ll be happy that highway is there to handle the increased commuter traffic.
well… I say tear it down… There is nothing but trash on the other side of route 5… Do you really want lackawana to beable to flow freely into downtown?
well here’s my opinion, i think the skyway should stay. i don’t think its ugly or seperates anyone or anything to/from buffalo or the water front. You get an amazing view of A. the city and B. the water front from the skyway. so why tear it down. i also believe that it’s something unique to buffalo. i say keep it. Now as for the raised part of rt 5 i do understand leveling it out and not having raised as it is now, that i think is an excellent idea.
the only logical reason to tear down the skyway would be the maintenance costs that go along with keeping it, compared to knocking it down and building a less expensive highway.
I can see the logic for leveling the raised part of RT 5. If they ever develop the areas inland from Rt 5, then not having those raised sections will be very crucial. Otherwise it might as well be in the middle of nowhere.
The lights will piss me off, but I think it will do more good than bad.
For some strange reason i hae hated the raised part f RT5 since i first laid eyes on it. Dont know why, just hate it. I think they should take it down and build a parkway. Ease of maintennce, potential for epansion, and safety IMO are the Pros to that.
but, i really wish they would build a subway or even just a train that would go from locations in the southtowns to the city and to the northtowns making stops along the way via park and rides in the south and northtowns. but all there is is a treain that goes 10 blocks up and down main st :tdown:
How many of you that are bitching about keeping it an expressway actually take Rt5 into/out of the city during morning/evening rush hour traffic?
This will be the same exact thing as they tried a few years ago on the 40mph section of Rt5 through Hamburg when they wanted to make it “ascetically pleasing” by turning it into a single lane with a center turn lane. Tell me how that one worked out for those who remember it.